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HORACE WARD BAILEY 

VERMONTER 



A 

MEMORIAL 

BY HIS FRIENDS 



COMPILED AND EDITED 

BY 
FRANK L. FISH 



1914 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

RUTLAND. VT. 






Publishers 

The Tuttle Company 

Marbir City Press 

RuUand, Vt. 



Coprrieht 1914 by Frank L. Fish 



DEC -7 1914 



'CI,A3889iO 



PREFACE 

To those who knew Horace W. Bailey, the charm of 
his acquaintance and the value of his writings, nothing 
need be said in justification of this publication. To those 
who knew him not and to those who shall come after him 
it may be said that he was one of the truest Vermonters 
that the Green Mountain State has ever known. His 
unique and attractive personality, his rare native humor, 
his sympathetic understanding of the real genius of Ver- 
mont, his passion for Vermont history, and his services 
in promoting Vermont patriotism, justify the attempt 
to recall to his friends and to preserve for posterity a record 
of his life and selections from his letters, addresses, and 
historical papers. 

On the 16th of January, 1913, I wrote Mr. Bailey 
urging him to write a book. The substance of the letter 
was, that having accumulated much valuable information, 
particularly about Vermont, it was his duty both to him- 
self and friends to preserve this in a book. His interesting 
personality, many friends, and exceptional style of writing 
were referred to as inducements to the effort suggested. 
The letter was intended to be entirely serious. The answer 
came almost a month later in a characteristic letter which 
may be found in the closing chapter of this book. While 
his letter indicates that he would not attempt the task, 
our interviews afterwards gave some hope that he might 
do so. His subsequent illness, however, convinced him 
that this would be beyond his strength. It was then sug- 



4 Preface 

gested that he assemble his most interesting and valuable 
A^Titings, then preserved, and publish them. This met with 
some favor at first, but on our last interview at the hospital 
in the late fall of 1913, he told me that he did not feel 
equal to even as small a task as that. Then I told him 
that I should have to act the part of Ralph Parkman in 
" The Child of Nature. " He had not read Mabie's charming 
story and asked me to tell him about it, which I did, little 
thinking that the duty would ever devolve upon me of 
carrying out the project which I had urged upon him. 

When the word came at St. Johnsbury, where I was 
engaged at the time, of the passing of Mr. Bailey, the 
subject of the book was taken up with his friends. It 
was decided to ask one hundred or more persons to obli- 
gate themselves in the sum of ten dollars each to defray 
the necessary expenses of the publication of his writings 
and speeches together with a history of his life. The 
necessary number of subscribers was easily secured. These 
represented persons from all over Vermont and some from 
outside. The larger lists came from Rutland, St. Johns- 
bury, and Newbury. 

The following committee was appointed to take 
charge of the publication — Dr. John M. Thomas, Presi- 
dent of Middlebury College, Arthur F. Stone, the long- 
time editor of the St. Johnsbury ''Caledonian," Gilbert 
E. Woods, Treasurer of the Citizens Savings Bank and 
Trust Co. of St. Johnsbury, M. C. Knight, Town Clerk 
of Newbury, Frank H. Chapman, Deputy U. S. Marshal, 
and myself, all personal friends of Mr. Bailey. 

The committee requested Frederic P. Wells of New- 
bury, the well known historian and life-long friend of Mr. 
Bailey, to write the personal sketch, a duty which he has 



Preface g 

discharged with great fidelity and discrimination. This 
appears in the first six chapters. To Mr. Stone fell the 
principal other task, that of searching for and selecting 
from the mass of material such speeches and writings as 
are worthy of publication and presenting them with suit- 
able head notes. This work has been well done, and the 
latter furnish a valuable supplement to the work of Mr. 
Wells. Mr. Woods and Mr. Chapman have attended 
to the financial part of the enterprise and the latter has 
written an interesting account of Mr. Bailey as a United 
States Marshal. Dr. Thomas has given much valuable 
advice about the book and its publication. 

We are indebted to Hon. Curtis S. Emery, Hon. 
Fuller C. Smith, Mr. E. S. Whittaker, and Mr. Charles 
H. Wilson for letters included in the personal history, 
and to Mr. Benjamin F. Buck of New York for furnishing 
the portrait of Mr. Bailey for the publication. The latter 
is a steel engraving made from a photograph which is con- 
sidered by his friends as the best likeness of Mr. Bailey. 

We submit the book to the public in the hope that it 
will be found to be of great interest and usefulness. We 
have endeavored to preserve the best of his historical 
writings and patriotic speeches, together with some ex- 
amples of his racy humor. A career so interesting and a 
personality so attractive merit no less a memorial than 
this. 

FRANK L. FISH. 
Vergennes, Vt., October, 1914. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. 
A Retrospect. 

Ancestry Webster Bailey and his sons— P^^e 

Newbury in early times Historical surroundings 

Newbury Seminary Henry and William 

Bailey 



13 



Chapter II. 

Early Days. 

His youth Church and school The Civil 

■^ar Rev. Dr. Burton Newbury Seminary 

again Early life Hotel clerk Teaching 

Mercantile life Begins literary work 

School superintendent 21 

Chapter III. 

Business Life. 

Merchant Administrator The Lindsey 

and Cutting estates Banking As a public 

speaker "Camp Pineton" The fright of a 

Scotch family Senator Fish Commissioner 

Tenney Memorial Library Town history 

-Newbury Seminary souvenir North Ameri- 



can Fish and Game Protective Association. ... 31 



8 Horace Ward Bailey 

Chapter IV. 

Public Service. 

Town representative His father's death ^^^ 

Book collecting "The Bailey-Bayley Family 

Association" Historical studies Political life 

A railroad commissioner 41 

Chapter V. 

Ten Active Years. 

Literary work Personal habits Love for 

boys U. S. Marshal Mr. Chapman's tribute 

Journey to Colorado The Lake Champlain 

celebration Failing health Memorial to 

Judge Thompson The Newbury celebration 

The sequel Tribute by Mr. Whittaker 50 

Chapter VI. 

The Last Year. 

Visit to Bermuda Last visit to Newbury 

In hospital again Once more at work 



Death Funeral service at Rutland At New- 
bury Eulogy by Dr. Thomas 63 

Chapter VII. 

Vermontiana. 

Two mathematical prodigies, Warren and Zerah 
Colburn Tribute to Hon. B. F. Fifield Trib- 



Contents 9 

ute to Hon. George N. Dale Tribute to Senator ^^gf^ 

Morrill How to boom Vermont Wells Good- 
win resolutions Journalism fifty years ago 

Vermont's two militar}' roads Old State House, 

Rutland Notable Legislative re-union Two 

Vermont monuments Mr. Williams and his Rural 

Magazine New Orleans Bell in Morrisville. . . 74 

Chapter VIII. 

Mr. Bailey's Public Addresses. 

Ladies' Aid Hall dedication Five addresses 

on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of New- 
bury Extracts from Memorial Day addresses 

From address of welcome to Orange County 

Veterans Association After-dinner speech at the 

Vergennes Tercentenary Celebration Eulogy, 

"Redficld Proctor, the Man." 99 

Chapter IX. 

Mr. Bailey as a Journalist. 

A trip through Crawford Notch The voca- 
tion of a newspaper correspondent On religious 

subjects Camp meeting Memorial Day 

Merry Christmas The Bradford Guards 

Basket ball game The Mary Rogers Case and 

capital punishment Arbor Day A Newbury 

Town Meeting Some characteristic utterances 

Introduction to "A Narrative of the Captivity 

of Mrs. Johnson." 151 



10 Horace Ward B^uley 

Chapter X. 

Mr, Bailey as a Political Writer. 

"Hial Higgins" on candidate Clement and his ^'^s^ 

minstrels "Hial Higgins" on high license and 

free rum "Hial Higgins" discusses the new Ver- 
mont 171 

Chapter XL 

Mr. Bailey's Newspaper Letters. 

(Philosophy and Travel). 

Letters from "Uncle Woodbine" The new 

woman Squashville letter Impressions of city 

life The Heavenly panorama The Pan-Amer- 
ican Exposition Fat Men's Club visit Bermuda. 185 

Chapter XII. 

Mr. Bailey's Contributions to Vermont History. 
Vermont as a Ptepublic Our early days 



The Phelps-Slade controversy Vermont's State 

Seal Zadock Thompson An old time Fourth 

of July Vermont historians for 100 years 

Gen. John Stark's widow The cannon at the 

State Capitol A Vermont electrician Legis- 
lative deadlocks A plea for the study of Vermont 

History INIatthew Lyon in History Daniel P. 

Thompson memorial Bennington's Declaration 

of Independence A pair of peaceful patriots, 

Daniel P. Thompson and Ptowland E. Robinson. . 206 



Contents H 

Chapter XIII. 
Bibliography, Miscellaneous. 



Vermont pamphlets not named by Gilman- 



Page 



The old brick schoolhouse Sketch of Mr. Bailey 

in Montpelier Journal Mr. Bailey's caustic 

letter to one seeking votes in a voting contest. . . 293 

Chapter XIV. 
Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer. 

Letters to Senator Carroll S. Page Gov. 

Fletcher D. Proctor President John M. Thomas 

J. A. Harrington John G. Sargent H. C. 

Whitehill John W. Titcomb Guy W. Bailey 

Samuel Alden Tucker and wife W. N. Gil- 

fiUan Thomas C. Cheney Lynn M. Hays 

Walter H. Crockett Judge Frank L. Fish. . . 305 



HORACE WARD BAILEY 

VERMONTER 



CHAPTER I. 

A RETROSPECT. 

Horace Ward Bailey has been called a self-made man. 
He owed little to schools or schoolmasters, but by energy, 
tact and business ability he made his way to an extended 
career of responsibility and usefulness. But a man is 
no more self-made than a tree is self-grown. Given that 
the young sapling is of vigorous stock, it will draw from 
the soil in which its roots are cast, and from the atmos- 
phere which surrounds it, the elements which give it fibre, 
foliage and fruit. 

His was a unique personality. One hardly meets with 
two such men in a lifetime. He was large of stature, 
large-hearted, of great executive ability, yet simple in his 
personal tastes, and gifted with the power of making and 
retaining friends. It is worth our while to study his life 
and work, and discover, if we can, how much of that per- 
sonality was inherited, and what part of it was assimilated 
from his surroundings. 

In the first place, he came of sterling ancestry, suc- 
cessive generations handing down their inheritance of 
honesty, conscientiousness, kindhness, as family traits. 
He was reared among people who held very clear and 
decided views; men and women ready and willing to give, 
at any moment, well-considered reasons for whatever 
opinions, religious or political, they held. Such an an- 



14 Horace Ward Bailey 

cestry is of more value to a young man than inherited 
wealth or social position. 

From the people among whom his youth was passed 
he learned more than from books and schools. With wider 
experience came a deeper sense of responsibiiitj'. He 
learned to criticize his own work; to gain wisdom from 
mistakes. 

In his lifetime he filled many responsible positions, 
and came into personal relations with thousands of people. 
He had to see much that was mean, selfish, and deceitful. 
But he saw more good than evil in men — in every man. 
He learned to take a broad view of life, he studied books 
and men, and realized that the world is governed by forces 
greater than men or human laws. 

In the prime of his manhood, with wider prospects 
opening before him and positions of prominence in view, 
he was called to face suffering, to give up, one after another, 
his cherished plans, and to know that his span of life must 
fall many years short of the average of his ancestors. But 
none of these things impaired the cheerfulness of his last 
years. With the stress of pain he grew more lovable, 
and passed away in the prime of his unusual powers without 
complaint or repining. 

There are lessons for j'^oung men in his career. He 
was very human; self-reliant; fond of popularity, yet with 
a modest opinion of his own abilities. He did good literary 
work, and could sum up large results in his life, yet, in the 
retrospect, was not sparing of self-criticism. It is given 
us to review his ancestry, his early training, his successive 
pursuits, the extended range of his later responsibilities, 
and the estimate in which he was held by those who were 
associated with him. 

Not far from the year 1787, about the time the con- 
vention which adopted the federal constitution was in 
session at Philadelphia, while Vermont was still an inde- 
pendent commonwealth, while the echoes of the revolu- 



A Retrospect 15 

tionaiy war and the New York controversy were still 
heard among the Green Mountains, Webster Bailey, a 
farmer and tanner of Newbury in Massachusetts emigrated 
with his family, and became a permanent citizen of Newbury 
in Vermont. 

At that period Newbury was one of the most important 
places in the state, and, despite its situation as a frontier 
and exposed town during the war, its twenty-five years of 
settlement had been prosperous ones. The part of the 
Connecticut valley in which it lies was then called the 
Lower Coos, Newbury and Haverhill, on opposite sides 
of the river, being the principal towns. They include 
a large portion of the most fertile meadows in the Connec- 
ticut valley. 

Newbury, one of the oldest towns in the state, before 
the war had been considered a desirable place for settle- 
ment both for its situation, and for the high reputation of 
its people. It was the early county seat for the northern 
part of the state, and in 1787 the meeting place of the 
legislature. 

Webster Bailey was in the fifth generation from 
Richard Bailey of England who settled at Rowley about 
1634. In the intermediate generations his maternal an- 
cestors have the names of Greenleaf and Webster. From 
the same stock, in later generations, came Daniel Web- 
ster and John Greenleaf Whittier. His wife was Mary 
Noyes, a descendant in the fifth generation from Rev. 
James Noyes, the colleague of Rev. James Parker, the 
first minister of Newbur}^ in Massachusetts. These 
families were of the great Puritan emigration which left 
England in the earlier years of Charles I. 

Webster Bailey considered Newbury a good place in 
which to set up in business as a tanner and shoemaker. 
He bought a small farm on the river road a mile below 
Newbury village, where he built a tannery and a shoe 
shop. In this occupation he employed from twenty to 
forty men and apprentices, and it was one of the earliest 



16 Horace Ward Bailey 

establishments of the kind in the state. This business 
was conducted by himself and his sons for about forty 
years, and the product was distributed over a wide extent 
of country. 

Webster Bailey was a man of high standing in the 
community, and the family moved in the best circles of 
their time and place. He was not prominent in town 
affairs, but was conspicuous in his services to the Congre- 
gational church, whose records he kept during several 
years. He often represented his church in councils, and 
served upon important committees. 

Webster Bailey and his wife were parents of ten 
children. The family life was happy and the home was 
noted for its genial hospitality. They were a hardy, long- 
lived stock. In 1910 their descendants, living and dead, 
numbered 217. They had been mainly farmers, people 
who lived close to the soil, and where their children settled 
a century and more ago, their descendants may still be 
found. Webster Bailey and his wife both died in 1830. 

In Horace Bailey's boyhood his grandfather, Parker 
Bailey, with his brothers Ezekiel and William, and their 
unmarried sisters, Hannah and Phoebe, were inmates of 
their father's family, or lived in the immediate neighbor- 
hood, and in his own prime he never wearied of repeating 
their shrewd sayings and quaint observations. These 
brothers had been in their time men of large affairs, and in 
their old age were grave of manner, slow and deliberate 
of speech, and possessed of a certain dignity of deportment 
which we seldom see now. They were not, however, 
without a saving grace of humor. William Bailey, better 
kno\vn as "Uncle Bill," would tell a story with the gravity 
of a clergyman repeating the burial service, while all 
around were convulsed with merriment. 

The chief characteristic of these brothers was fidelity 
to their convictions. They were early abolitionists and 
in their view no man could rightfully hold another man 
n bondage. No amount of sophistry could convince them 



A Retrospect 17 

that slavery was, as certain ministers of the gospel in their 
day claimed it to be, — a "Divine Institution." More 
than one fugitive slave was helped toward freedom by these 
brothers. 

In his later years Horace Bailey looked back to those 
old men and their contemporaries as survivors of a superior 
race, but not until he had reached his own prime did he 
realize his indebtedness to them. They were highly re- 
spected and were men of excellent business judgment. 
They seldom held office of any kind. The sisters had been 
prominent in the social life of Newbury and Haverhill 
in their time. 

Our friend was as widely known for his knowledge of 
the early history of the town and state, as for the public 
offices which he held, and for this interest he was much 
indebted to his early associations. Traditions of pioneer 
days cling to every farm and older dwelling in Newbury 
and Haverhill. In his infancy there still lingered two or 
three very aged survivors of the revolutionary war. One 
of his earliest recollections was the death in 1858, on the 
farm next north of his father's, of Colonel Simeon Stevens, 
whose entire life of more than ninety years included the 
whole of the war of independence. 

Nearly all his life was spent in the same house which, 
now modernized out of all resemblance to its original form, 
is the residence of Mr. Alexander Greer. It is one of the 
very oldest houses in the state, and its heavy oaken tim- 
bers seem likely to last for centuries more. It was built 
by Capt. Simeon Stevens, a soldier of the French and In- 
dian war, and an officer of some note in the revolution. 
Judith, his daughter, married Washington Stone of Pier- 
mont, N. H., and their daughter, Melvina, became the 
mother of Chester A. Arthur. 

It must therefore seem perfectly fitting that his mind, 
amid such associations, should have taken an historical 
bent. But he had passed middle life before he began to 
collect the memorials which remained. A short time be- 

(2) 



18 Horace Ward Bailey 

fore his death he expressed regret that he had not in his 
youth understood the value which would have attached to 
the narratives of early days which he could have committed 
to writing from the lips of aged persons. 

There were other and humbler people whom he loved 
to recall, and among the quaint characters of Newbury 
in those old days were an Englishman and his wife who 
lived in a small clearing a mile from his father's house or 
from any other, who used to sit on their door-step of a sum- 
mer evening and sing the ballads of their native land. 
They were simple, honest people who had little and needed 
little, but Jimmie Aytoun's shining face was a joy to be- 
hold, and his invariable and friendly salutation, "I hope 
I see you well," Horace often loved to employ. 

Parker Webster, the third son and ninth child of 
Webster Bailey, went across the Connecticut River, and 
married in 1817, EUza, daughter of Capt. Uriah Ward of 
Haverhill, N. H. 

She was a descendant in the fifth generation of William 
Ward of England, who was an early settler of Ipswich, 
Mass. Her grandfather, Uriah Ward of Worcester, 
seems to have been a revolutionary soldier. This was a 
very happy marriage as well as of long duration, as their 
married life was sixty-four years. Their grandson says 
of them — "Thej'^ were a model couple, devoted to each 
other, their familj^ and church, profound Bible students, 
and great readers of current affairs." Of their three 
sons, Henry Webster and William Uriah were spared 
to many useful and honored years. 

In their early manhood a new and strong influence 
had come into the life of Newbury. The growth and 
prospects of the Methodist Episcopal church called for an 
institution of learning under its auspices, the public spirit 
of Newbury proffered the most favorable location, and in 
1834 Newbury Seminary was opened. That a new era 
in the educational historj^ of the state began with its 
opening, was not seen at the time. There were many 



A Retrospect 19 

academies, and good ones too, in the state, but the useful- 
ness and patronage of each was Umited to the few towns 
in its vicinity, and two or three instructors were all that 
they could afford. 

By the founding of Newbury Seminary, for the first 
time in the history of the state and in the whole upper 
valley of the Connecticut, there was an institution of 
learning with a full corps of teachers and regular courses 
of study. The trustees, who were men without liberal 
education or experience in the management of such an 
institution, had the good sense to intrust the policj^ to the 
hands of the principals and their assistants. The result 
exceeded their expectations. The pupils increased in 
number, its fame spread far and wide, its plain brick build- 
ing was the objective point for hundreds of eager young 
men and women, and the limited resources of the insti- 
tution were strained to the utmost to meet the demands 
upon it. The founders of other schools sent their repre- 
sentatives to learn the details of the management and the 
secret of its success. It attracted many new families into 
the place, and the young men and women of Newburj'^ 
were brought into contact with bright, earnest minds 
from scores of other places. On every page of its cata- 
logues are names of pupils who became prominent in dif- 
ferent walks of life. 

Henry and William Bailey were among its earliest 
pupils and were familiar with all the history of the school 
during the thirty-four years of its existence. The former 
entered business life, and was for twenty-five years the 
popular foreman of the Keyes mercantile establishment. 
He was town clerk for thirty years, treasurer eleven years, 
town representative 1859-60, and Judge of Probate for 
Bradford District eight years. He was a most genial man, 
and his integrity was never questioned. During the civil 
war he was of service to young men in the army, who 
sent their pay to him to be invested, which was carefully 
done by him without charge for his services, or the loss 



20 Horace Ward Bailey 

of a pennJ^ Judge Bailey died March 5, 1877. He 
married Harriet Merrill who survived him several years. 
They had no children. 

William Uriah Bailey, born on the old homestead 
September 25, 1820, was a farmer all his life, a tall, erect, 
well-built man, who held few offices, made few journeys, 
but devoted himself entirely to his family and, with good 
success, to his occupation. He was seldom absent from 
home or from his seat in church — a highly respected 
citizen. He married, on Christmas Eve, 1844, Abigail 
Eaton of Wentworth, N. H., "of Scotch descent," her 
son says. They lived in Wentworth until 1851, when he 
returned to Newbury and bought the farm next north of 
the Webster Bailey place, where his son Warren W. still 
lives. This is one of the large meadow farms, and the 
buildings, which are situated upon the terrace which lies 
between the meadows and the range of hills which extend 
the entire length of the town, command a beautiful and 
extensive view of the Franconia mountains and their 
lesser chain of elevations for many miles to the east and 
south, the hills and villages of Haverhill, the meadows, 
and the great valley of the Connecticut through which the 
river pursues its sinuous course. 

The children of William and Abigail Bailey were: 
Ellen Eliza, who married R. S. Chamberlin of Newbury 
Center; Henry J., who was drowned in his thirteenth year; 
Horace Ward; Warren Ward, a farmer on the homestead 
and in lumber business; and Jesse Parker, now deceased. 
Mrs. Bailey died suddenly, November 25, 1880. Mr. 
Bailey died June 18, 1904. 



Early Days 21 



CHAPTER II. 
EARLY DAYS. 

On the sixteenth of January, 1852, in the administra- 
tion of Millard Fillmore, an era which seems far away to 
the present generation, a son was born to William and 
Abigail Bailey. They named him Horace Ward, in mem- 
ory of his father's youngest brother, whose life had been 
cut short by an accident in his third year. The child 
inherited from both his parents a vigorous constitution, 
and was reared in the wholesome manner of children on a 
New England farm sixty years ago. He learned to make 
himself useful, to help about the house and farm, to run 
errands, and do the thousand and one things which fall to 
the lot of a farmer's boy. His constant companion was 
his elder brother Henry, and his first great sorrow came 
when this bright, promising lad was drowned in the sum- 
mer of 1862, while bathing in the river. 

Horace always spoke reverently of his mother. She 
was a woman of quiet manner, affectionate temperament, 
and kindly ways, whose home was her kingdom, and whose 
ambition lay in making that home a happy one, and in 
doing her duty, as she saw it, by all around her. In due 
time he was sent to the village school, a mile away, in the 
same brick building which he purchased many years after- 
ward, in which he kept his ofiice and library. The village 
school was, usually, a good one, as schools were in those 
days. When things went well, which was not always, it 
was one of the best in town. With the day school was 
mingled the instruction which came with the Sabbath. 
All the Bailey family were connected with the Congrega- 
tional church, the children went as well as their elders, 



22 Horace Ward Bailey 

and Mrs. Bailey had a class in Sunday school. With 
pleasant words and beaming smile she greeted each pupil. 
The minister of those days was Rev. Horatio N. Burton, 
a man of rare intellectual gifts, strong personality, and a 
faithful preacher of the Word. His views upon many 
subjects were, substantially, those held by President 
Lord of Dartmouth College, whose favorite pupil he was 
said to have been. 

The period from his eighth to his fourteenth year was 
a stirring time for a boy of Horace Bailey's training and 
environment. This included the civil war. The spring 
of 1861 was a strenuous season. Patriotism ran high; 
flags waved everywhere, and young men were enlisting 
for a war which was expected to be so short that many 
feared that it would be over before they could get there. 
The boys of the town formed themselves into military 
companies, armed with wooden guns, and went through 
the evolutions with ardor. Horace with his brother and 
a large assemblage of Newbury people, old and young, 
were at the station to see the third regiment pass through 
on the 24th of July, from St. Johnsbury to the seat of war. 
There were two long trains, both of which stopped to 
take wood and water. Several Newbury boys were on 
board, and opportunity was given their friends to take 
leave of them — a long farewell it proved, in many cases. 
Amos Meserve, a fine young man from Newbury, was 
the first of the regiment to be killed in battle. His man- 
gled remains were brought home and buried late one 
September evening by the light of many lanterns in a ceme- 
tery in the central part of the town. The Avar took on a 
grim reality for us from that event. 

Horace Bailey began to attend Newbury Seminary 
probably in the spring of 1865, while Rev. George Crosby 
Smith was the able principal, his assistant. Rev. Silas E. 
Quimby, succeeding him a year later. The last principal 
was Rev. Simeon F. Chester, for many subsequent years 
the honored head of the Springfield, Mass., High School. 



Early Days 23 

Our friend was one of the most loyal pupils of the old school, 
and if he could overlook my work, would insist that I 
should say something about its last years. He was wont 
to say that he learned little from books while there but a 
great deal from the school itself, and many others could 
say as much. It would be hard to find anywhere such a 
collection of students as gathered within its walls in its 
last years, which included the close of the civil war. There 
were no fewer than twenty young men who had served in 
the Union army, and now resumed their interrupted studies. 
Three of our fellow pupils had each lost an arm in ser- 
vice, two limped in on crutches and others bore honorable 
scars. Among the young ladies were two widows whom 
the war had made such, there were a man and his wife 
who were married before the war, in which she served as 
a nurse, and reciting in Latin, mathematics and chem- 
istry with the rest of us were two fine young men who had 
been captains in the service. These veterans were much 
older than the pupils of an academy usually are, and were 
somewhat held in awe by the other students. 

After the Seminary was moved to Montpelier a num- 
ber of schools in succession were held in the old building, 
some of which he attended. But the truth is that he was 
a very indifferent scholar. When he chose to apply him- 
self he could learn a lesson more quickly than any other 
pupil. In studies like history, where he could give the 
substance of a lesson in his own language, he did very well. 
He hated mathematics, and in all his years at school hardly 
went beyond the common EngUsh branches, as they were 
called in those days. 

In after-life he deeply regretted this inattention, and 
years after he had left school, took up his neglected studies 
and completely mastered them. In one particular he ex- 
celled. He was a ready and effective debater, and spoke 
well upon any subject. He was always a leader in the circle 
of boys and young men of the village in sports and ad- 
ventures. Indeed he was very much of a boy to the end 



24 Horace Ward Bailey 

of his life, loved the company of boys, and usually con- 
trived to have a boy or two about him in his office and at 
his summer camp. He once asked me to write an obituary 
of a man of whom I said that I could say little good. "Oh 
yes, you can," rephed Horace, "you can say that he was 
always kind to boys. Now a man who is good to boys 
ain't all bad." So I wrote it down that he was good to 
boys. 

His father offered to send him through college, but he 
declined the offer, having at that time no liking for the 
close application which a college course requires. Late in 
life he was asked if he regretted the decision and replied, — 
"Well, sir, I ought to have gone, but I'd have cut a mighty 
poor figure at college." Some of his friends have thought 
that had he taken a college course and applied himself 
with the assiduity which characterized his later years, he 
would have won fame. He was a journalist by nature, the 
editorial chair was his proper place, not politics or public 
office. His work as an occasional contributor to the state 
press was meagre and its influence small, compared with 
what he might have accomplished as the head of a great 
newspaper. Late in life he reahzed this, and felt that 
had he come under some strong influence at that period his 
career would have been very different. 

Horace Bailey's chief claim to our remembrance was 
his unique personality. The public positions which he 
held were not sufficiently important to preserve his name 
by reason of his connection with them. 

The freshness and originality which gave charm to 
his conversation were due to a mind so alert that it con- 
sidered a subject from many points of view. Consequently 
he was quick to cast a side-light upon any topic — a new 
and illuminating observation was certain to come from 
him. His spirits were irrepressible; he radiated cheerful- 
ness; his humor was contagious and unexpected. But it 
was never caustic; his wit never left a sting; he thought no 
less of a good story if the point suddenly turned against 



Early Days 25 

himself. He was never more delightful than when at 
leisure he would start up some absurd proposition, support- 
ing it by statements most preposterous, employing words 
and phrases the meaning of which his hearers had to ask, 
and whose quaintness constituted the principal charm. 
How much of this unique personality was original with him 
and how much was assimilated it would be hard to say. 
There was in him no oddity, no eccentricity. His intellect 
was well balanced ; it was only in leisure hours that his speech 
displayed the exuberance of his spirits. The qualities 
of honesty, promptness and hard business sense were his 
inheritance from a sterling ancestry; and his love of his- 
tory was the result of his environment; much of the quaint 
flavor of his conversation was the effect of his power of 
assimilation. 

The Baileys from time immemorial have been plain 
people. All his life Horace loved plain, hard-working folks 
best. He was a close observer, and fond of the society of 
old-fashioned people. 

In his boyhood and youth a number of aged people 
in Newbury, whom we might speak of as survivors of the 
homespun age, were still active and vigorous. In their 
speech they preserved the idioms not only of their youth, 
but that of their fathers and their grandfathers. Con- 
sequently many words and phrases which had long dis- 
appeared in more populous communities were still in daily 
use by the farmers among the hills. Fifty years ago there 
were many shrewd, sensible, intelligent men, whose con- 
versation was worth listening to, but whose personal ob- 
servation was limited within a radius of a few miles from 
their own firesides. There was an aged couple at West 
Newbury whose married life of fifty-four years was spent 
under the same roof, from which they were absent but a 
single night. The wife I never saw, but the husband I 
remember well, a quaint, gentle old man whose pleasing 
conversation was diversified by expressions which were, 
perhaps, current in colonial days. The wisdom of un- 



26 Horace Ward Bailey 

traveled firesides had a charm v/hich was all its own. 
Horace was fonH of meeting such people, and his mind 
was well stored with their reminiscences, which he drew 
upon in his own conversation. 

Forty-five years ago, and for some years afterward, 
Newbury people asked each other — "What is Horace 
Bailey going to make of himself?" The form of the in- 
quiry shows the general belief that his future lay in his own 
hands. Give a young man sound health, industrious 
habits, a fair education; the winning personality which 
makes and retains friends; the pride of an untarnished 
family name, he has a fine endowment. What will he 
do with it? There are those to whom all these are given, 
with wealth and social position, but the power to guide 
themselves wisely is not given them. Indolence; weak- 
ness of will; inability to resist temptation — we all know 
of lives which have been wrecked by these. But no one 
ever charged Horace Bailey with infirmity of purpose. 
His j^outh had been well guided. William and Abigail 
Bailey taught their children to be truthful, to be indus- 
trious, honest, reverent, kind and gentle to all. If they 
did wrong, they were punished. 

Our friend seems to have been in no haste to settle at 
anything. The years of his early manhood were spent on 
his father's farm, which is a large one, with outlying pas- 
tures, and plenty of work for several men. He was effi- 
cient, practical and ready with expedients. It was a 
useful and happy life, the routine of farm work varied by 
Sunday excursions, rides among the hills, and the like. 
His evenings were spent in reading, or making and receiv- 
ing calls. Perhaps he drove out where some entertain- 
ment offered — a lyceum, a school exhibition, or, perchance, 
a wedding anniversary. He was a welcome guest every- 
where. His cordial manner and readiness to enter into 
whatever was going on made him popular. In his later 
years he looked back on his life then as ideal. 

He seems to have made several trials of business of 



Early Days 27 

one kind or another, which need not be enumerated. One 
summer he drove a team for John E. Chamberlin, who was 
building a railroad in the White Mountain region. About 
1878 he became a porter at the Fabyan House, then kept 
by Lindsey & French. John Lindsey, a native of Newbury, 
and one of the best known hotel men in New England, 
had worked his way up from a stable boy, through the posi- 
tions of stage driver and manager to a position of proprietor 
of several well known hotels. In a short time Horace 
was promoted to be night clerk, and continued in Mr. 
Lindsey's employment during several seasons at the Fab- 
yan, the Ocean House at Old Orchard, and one winter at 
the Uplands Hotel at Eastman, Ga. His experiences in 
those places, while not bringing him much, financially, 
were of great value ; they brought him a very extensive ac- 
quaintance, and he met many distinguished men from all 
parts of the country. The Fabyan House was then, and 
for years afterward, the scene of many important gather- 
ings, mainly of a scientific or professional character, which 
called together men of rank from this country and Europe. 

It was the period of great hotels in the mountain 
region, which has been followed by a change in which a 
large part of the summer population is domesticated in 
private estates, and charming summer residences. 

The summer of 1880 was the last he spent in this 
business. The firm of Lindsey & French went into bank- 
ruptcy and he had much to do with the settlement of their 
affairs. But his connection with the Lindsey family did 
not cease for many years. In 1891 Mr. Lindsey died, and 
Mr. Bailey, by the wish of all concerned, was made adminis- 
trator of his estate, whose settlement occupied much of his 
time for a number of years, the task being complicated by 
several deaths in the family. 

The winter of 1879-'80 he spent in teaching the village 
school, but, judging from his diary, the task was little 
to his liking, and if he had any idea of making a profes- 
sion of teaching, he thought no more of it. He was sel- 



28 Horace Ward Bailey 

dom absent from church, and always noted the subject 
of the discourse in his diary. 

In the fall of 1880 he went into business for himself 
by taking charge of the grist mill at South Newbury, in 
order to relieve his friend Alljm Olmsted, who had bought 
the mill, and had become financially involved. Mr. Olm- 
sted was prominent in the Democratic party in Vermont, 
being candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1902. His 
life was spent in trying to carry on a large business with 
small capital, and in the vicissitudes of his life he was often 
assisted by Mr. Bailey. It was in this business that Horace 
began to "get ahead" financially. 

This property was sold to Mr. H. H. Runnels in the 
fall of 1881 and in the spring of 1882, he removed to the 
village, opening a grocery, and a feed and grain business, 
enlarging a store already standing, in which he carried on 
a very successful business until the spring of 1891, when 
it was sold to Silsby & Knight. The buildings were 
burned in the great fire of 1913. The business had been 
profitable, and the experience gained was of great value. 
But the increasing demands upon his time required a change. 

His sister thinks that he began to write for the press 
about 1875. At first, and for some years, all his wTiting 
was for the Opinion, published at Bradford, of which he 
was the Newbury correspondent for about twenty-five 
years — when at home. It is interesting to compare his 
earliest work with his latest. It was for some time only a 
few items of local happenings. There was a freshness 
and originality in them, but his style was crude, and his 
choice of words not always fortunate. It was a good exer- 
cise, and when he saw how his work looked in print he was 
aware of faults, and corrected them. He does not seem 
to have taken himself seriously, and it was long before it 
occurred to him that he had any literary talent. In time 
he included subjects of early history, and generally filled 
a column with Newbury news and comments, and his con- 
tributions to the Opinion would fill a good-sized volume. 



Early Days 29 

In the night before Thanksgiving, 1880, his mother 
died suddenly. The record in his diary shows how deeply 
he grieved over her loss. There was a vein of tenderness 
in him which was easily touched. 

It was in the first years in the store that he began to 
take an interest in hterature, particularly in history and 
science. Before that time his reading had been mainly 
newspapers, and such works as were usually found m a 
community of well-to-do farmers. Had there been at 
that time in Newbury, as now, a large and well selected 
library his reading might have drawn him along lines of 
usefulness of which he never dreamed. He once told me 
this curious story about himself: "When I was at the 
Fabyan House some very fine fish were brought into the 
office one morning which had been caught in the Am- 
monoosuc, and there came along several gentlemen, among 
whom was a very odd looking man. They were looking 
at the fish, and some one asked this man a question, and 
he began to talk in a foreign accent about fish, and told 
more about them than all I knew before. I wondered who 
he could be, and why everybody in the hotel seemed to 
be crowding into the office. I asked someone who he was 
and was answered— 'That man? Why, that's Agassiz!' 
And I hardly knew there was such a man as Agassiz, and 
began to reahze that I didn't know much." 

He began to buy standard works, commenced to study 
the great English classics, and found an undiscovered 
country in English literature. To most people he was the 
sharp Yankee trader, keen for a bargain, politically ambi- 
tious, and the teller of good stories. To a few friends he 
was the eager student, studying, exploring. But the in- 
creasing demands upon him left him less and less time 
for study. He began the nucleus of what became in the 
course of years a large and valuable Ubrary, and the col- 
lection of pamphlets which at his death numbered several 
hundreds. 



30 Horace Ward Bailey 

His first public office was that of lister, to which he 
was elected in 1884. In 1888 he was elected superintendent 
of schools and held that office till 1901 when the system 
was changed, and he thus made practical acquaintance 
with the school system, and understood the shortcomings 
of common school education in Vermont. 

When the town system was adopted he served as a 
school director for one year, but not afterward. 

On the 19th of October, 1880, he became a member of 
Champion Lodge, No. 17, I. 0. O. F., at Bradford, with- 
drawing March 18, 1887, to become a member of Temple 
Lodge at Wells River, with which he remained till his 
death. He held no office in the lodge, and was not con- 
nected with any other fraternal association.* In 1886 he 
was elected town clerk and held that office ten j^ears. He 
became greatly interested in the early history of the town 
as revealed in its records, and made a complete index of 
deeds and mortgages and caused a copy to be made of the 
earliest volume of town proceedings which contains many 
invaluable family records. 



* In the last year of his life Mr. Bailey applied for membership in 
the Rutland Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He was elected, but 
his fatal illness prevented his initiation. He was, however invited to 
make use of the dining hall and club rooms, a courtesy which he ac- 
cepted with sincere appreciation. 



Business Life 31 



CHAPTER III. 
BUSINESS LIFE. 

In the year 1879 Mr. Bailey was appointed adminis- 
trator of an estate in Newbury, the first in a line of business 
which occupied much of his time for the rest of his life. 
Hon. H. T. Baldwin, Judge of Probate for Bradford Dis- 
trict, has compiled for us a list of thirteen estates of which 
he was executor of a will, and eighteen of which he was 
administrator, in that district alone. There were also 
estates in Essex County, and in Coos and Grafton Counties, 
in N. H. He was also assignee of a large number of bank- 
rupt estates, and agent for the sale of property for persons 
in other parts of the country. These required intimate 
knowledge of the statute law of several states, of com- 
mercial law, great tact in dealing with people, and inti- 
mate knowledge of human nature in bringing conflicting 
parties to agreement. Some of these were small properties, 
where there was little left for the widow or orphans. In 
such cases he often made no charge for his services, or 
merely a nominal one. I remember one case where he 
was administrator of a small estate of a man who was very 
anxious that "no one should lose a dollar by him." One day 

he told me, "Well, I've got poor 's affairs settled at 

last, and now he can rest quiet in his grave, for his debts 
are all paid." "Was there anything left?" I asked. 
"Just enough left to buy him a gravestone," was the reply. 
"How much did you charge for your services?" I inquired. 
"Well, sir," said Horace, "I felt better satisfied in seeing 

that poor and his wife had decent gravestones than 

in taking a fee. It didn't take much time anyway. " 

Several of these estates involved many interesting 



32 Horace Ward Bailey 

particulars in their settlement, among which were the 
Lindsey estates which have been mentioned before. Another 
interesting estate was that of Dr. Hiram A. Cutting of 
Lunenburgh. Dr. Cutting, a native of Concord and a 
merchant at Lunenburgh, was a man of remarkable scien- 
tific ability who, in the course of his busy life, rose to be 
considered both in this country and in Europe as an au- 
thority in chemistry as related to agriculture, in botany 
and in microscopy. He was also interested in astron6my, 
and purchased a valuable refracting telescope of Alvin 
Clark, which he mounted upon a building erected for the 
safekeeping of his large geological and mineralogical col- 
lections. He also accumulated a library of about sixteen 
thousand volumes, mainly upon scientific subjects, which 
contained many rare works. He published a number of 
scientific papers, especially relating to agriculture, was a 
practical farmer, and practiced medicine as a specialist in 
nervous diseases. Dr. Cutting was elected curator of the 
state cabinet of natural history in 1880, and state geologist 
in the same year. He also lectured extensively, and was 
a member, it is said, of no fewer than eighty-three scientific 
and medical societies in different parts of the world. He 
died April 18, 1892, leaving an encumbered estate with 
many claims upon it. Horace W. Bailey was appointed 
administrator, and a most perplexing task awaited him, 
which only a man of large experience in that kind of work, 
and remarkable tact, could have accomplished. He pub- 
lished a catalogue of the library and museum, and a list 
of the scientific apparatus. The library was sold in lots 
to suit purchasers, and the cabinet, of over 30,000 speci- 
mens, was purchased largely by Mr. John G. Sinclair of 
Bethlehem, N. H. In a little over a year he had settled 
with the creditors, sifted out false claims, and divided the 
avails among the legatees, without litigation, to the dis- 
appointment of the lawyers, who had anticipated some 
pickings from the estate. Mr. Bailey was held to be 
somewhat impatient of forms and precedents in probate 



Business Life 33 

matters, his only aim seeming to be to settle an estate as 
quickly as possible, and at the least expense. 

It was in 1887 that he entered into a larger business 
sphere by being unanimously elected a director on January 
10th of the Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company, 
of St. Johnsbury, and he held that position to the time of 
his death. In 1890 he was chosen a trustee of Bradford 
Savings Bank and Trust Company, and held that place 
till the bank went out of business. 

About that time he began to be in demand as a public 
speaker at gatherings in the vicinity, and applied himself 
to more study of elocution. His tall, commanding figure, 
clear, well-modulated voice and deliberate enunciation 
made him a very effective speaker. He had to learn, 
however, to be clear and precise in his speech, and, as the 
phrase goes, "to think on his feet." He was once morti- 
fied, in those early days, when shown in an address of his 
which had been printed, an important paragraph which 
could be read to mean precisely the opposite from what he 
had intended to say. 

In the spring of 1894, he purchased a small tract of 
land on the east shore of Hall's Pond in Newbury, and con- 
structed in a grove of pines on a low promontory, a com- 
fortable building, wliich, in amusing defiance of the pro- 
testations of his lad}^ friends, he named "Camp Pineton." 
Hall's Pond is a beautiful sheet of water covering about 
three hundred acres; its shores are wooded, except at the 
north end; its extreme width is about half a mile, and it 
bears considerable resemblance to Walden Pond in Con- 
cord, Mass. But no Thoreau has made it famous. Its 
waters are clear and deep, the pond is supplied by springs 
which, with the water flowing from the hillsides, furnished 
its outlet with a stream which then and for about eighty 
years, in the spring and fall, turned a saw mill, the last of 
the old "up-and-down" mills in this vicinity. Excepting 
for the cottages of the summer residents, the aspect of the 
pond has hardly changed for a century. 
(3) 



34 Horace Wakd Bailey 

The pond has no place in history. It is haunted bj"" 
no Indian legend or modern tragedy. Only one tale is 
worth relating. There was formerly a road near the east 
side of the pond in whose vicinity were three houses which 
have long disappeared. Into one of these, on a June day 
more than eighty years ago, there moved a family fresh 
from Scotland, who had never heard of frogs, fire-flies or 
mosquitoes. When evening fell the smaller frogs began 
to sing in the pond below, the bullfrogs took up the chorus, 
the fire-flies lighted their lanterns, and the mosquitoes put 
in their work. The worthy people were terrified beyond 
endurance. They boarded up the windows and sat up ail 
night in fearful expectation of a visit from their mysterious 
and terrible neighbors. With the break of day the family 
fled from the house to the nearest dwelling, half a mile 
away, declaring that no consideration would tempt them 
to spend another night in such proximJty to the infernal 
regions. It required no small persuasion to convince them 
that the terrible sounds came from perfectly harmless 
creatures; that the mosquitoes and fire-flies were different 
insects, and that the latter were, in reality, most wonderful. 

In this retreat Mr. Bailey dispensed a bachelor hos- 
pitality for eleven summers, entertaining his friends and 
enjoying its quiet and seclusion. 

The premises are now occupied in the summer by a 
girls' school, conducted by Miss Julia Farweli of Tarry- 
town, N. Y., and the place is known as "Camp Farweli." 

In 1890 and 1892, Mr. Bailey was the republican 
candidate for town representative, but was defeated in 
both years by reason of local dissensions which need not 
be recalled. In 1894, he was chosen a state senator from 
Orange County, his colleague being Jon. Joseph K. Darling 
of Chelsea. As he had spent considerable time at Mont- 
pelier in previous years, he was already familiar with legis- 
lative procedure, and his wide acquaintance and business 
experience made him prominent. 

He was appointed a member of the standing committees 



Business Life 35 

on Education, and on Railroads, and chairman of the com- 
mittee upon the State Prison. He was also a member of 
the joint standing committee upon the House of Correc- 
tion. 

The session was not remarkable for constructive legis- 
lation, and no opportunitj^ occurred for the display of special 
ability. Mr. Bailey was considered a conservative member, 
giving careful attention to the bills which were introduced, 
speaking forcibly and to the point when necessary. As a 
member of several committees he scrutinized each bill 
which was referred to them, suggesting amendments. 
He introduced legislation relating to education, and to 
improvements at the state prison. He also introduced a 
resolution, which was concurred in by the House, regarding 
Wells Goodwin of Newbury, the last surviving soldier of 
the war of 1812 in the state, who became one hundred years 
old on the ninth of December. At the close of the session 
he was appointed by Governor Woodbury a member of the 
Fish and Game Commission. 

Mr. Bailey had no technical knowledge of fish culture, 
neither was he a sportsman. He delighted not in shooting 
or fishing. He considered himself, however, to use his 
own words, "a fine hand to have charge of the commissary 
department" on fishing or hunting excursions by his friends. 
Once in a boat on Pico Senator Proctor handed him a rod, 
with line and tempting fly, but he returned it and could never 
understand how the senator got any delight from "hooking 
those little trout." He brought sound business methods 
and practical common sense to the discharge of his duties 
and did much to establish the well-equipped plant at Rox- 
bury. In company with Mr. Titcomb, his fellow-com- 
missioner, he visited the fish hatcheries at Bucksport, 
Maine, Livermore Falls, N. H., and other places, carefully 
studying the methods employed. He was selected by the 
legislature to expend an appropriation made to build a dam 
at the outlet of Lake Morey, in Fairlee, which is said to be 
a very substantial piece of work. During the six years 



36 Horace Ward Bailey 

in which he held the office, although unflinching in the 
execution of the laws, he made an exceedingly popular 
official, and gained a large and friendly acquaintance 
throughout the state. He had become greatly interested 
in the work, and had rendered much service for which he 
received no recompense. He had been a faithful and con- 
scientious official and it seemed to the press of the state in 
general a mistake when he was displaced. 

Before he held this position he had purchased the 
"brick school house" in Newbury Village, which he fitted 
up for his office, with shelves for his books, and a sleeping 
apartment, making his home there, taking his meals out- 
side. This simple life was just what he liked, as it gave 
him complete liberty to come and go, a convenient and re- 
tired place in which to transact business, and attend to his 
large correspondence. 

In the fall of 1875 occurred an event whose outcome 
gave him a vast amount of satisfaction: — Miss Martha 
J. Tenney of Haverhill, Mass., made public her intention 
of presenting her native town of Newbury with a building 
for a public library, and Mr. Bailey was named by her as 
a member of the board of trustees. The building was 
erected in 1876, and dedicated June 10, 1897, one of the 
addresses being delivered by him. The library was the 
one interest most dear to him, and to its welfare he gave 
much thought and solicitude, serving as chairman of the 
executive committee, and took pride in seeing it increase 
from about fifteen hundred miscellaneous books to a well 
selected library of nearly eight thousand volumes, especi- 
ally rich in works relating to the history of the state, the 
Connecticut valley, and those parts of Massachusetts from 
which the early settlers came. It also has a valuable 
collection of revolutionary war papers. Its invested funds 
have increased from nothing at all to above $8000 and in the 
present year the town has doubled the appropriation for 
its maintenance. The place which the library held in his 
mind may be comprehended from what he said to me one 



Business Life 37 

day — "If we had only had such a hbrary here when I was 
a boy I shouldn't have wasted half mj^ life in finding out 
what I was good for." 

In the last letter I ever received from him, one of the 
last he wrote, he used this pathetic passage — "I can't 
last much longer, and now I have only one aspiration left, 
and that is to see the library on a firm financial basis." 
He went on to give directions for the disposal of some of 
his books, many of which he wished should go to the library. 
The success of the institution is largely due to Mr. Bailej^, 
to Rev. J. L. Merrill, the first president of the board of 
trustees, and to Miss Atkinson, the accomplished and de- 
voted librarian. Of the former Mr. Bailey said at the time 
of his death — ''Mr. Merrill was my ideal of a Christian 
gentleman." 

Newbury is one of the oldest towns in the state, its 
part in the revolutionary war was a prominent one, and in 
the history of the whole Connecticut valley, no town above 
the Massachusetts line was more conspicuous. The need 
of a work which should embody its history and the records 
of its families had long been realized. But no one seemed 
willing to undertake the task. Mr. Bailey had been urged 
to do it, but had declined for want of time and the formid- 
able character of the undertaking. It was largely by his 
urgency and through his influence that the town, at the 
March meeting of 1898, placed the work of preparing a 
town history in the hands of the writer. During the four 
strenuous years which followed, Mr. Bailey was the editor's 
most loyal supporter, serving on the committee, and ready 
with every possible assistance and suggestion. 

It was the writer's large privilege, some years later, to 
send him, as fast as printed, the sheets of the history of 
Ryegate, which gave him great satisfaction. The com- 
pleted volume reached him while in the hospital in August, 
1913. 

Ever ready to do anything which would preserve the 
memory of "Old Newbury Seminary," Mr. Bailey, in 



38 Horace Ward BAiiiEY 

1900, set about the task of preparing a sketch of the old 
school, embracing, incidentally, the history of the Metho- 
dist church at Newbury village, and the placing of a mem- 
orial window in the church edifice in memory of the twelve 
principals of the old institution. These addresses were 
delivered in the church September 19, 1900, the occasion 
bringing together many pupils of the old school. Memorial 
windows to former members of the Methodist society 
were dedicated at the same time. Both addresses were 
printed in pamphlet form, with much other matter, pro- 
fusely illustrated. 

The winter of 1899-1900 Mr. Bailey spent at Hyde 
Park, in the business office of Hon. Carroll S. Page. It 
was here that he felt the first attacks of the malady which 
finally undermined his constitution and terminated his life. 
It began with pain and swelling in his left knee and foot 
which considerably impaired his activity, and compelled 
the use of a cane for several months. But the disease 
seemed to yield to treatment, and gave him little trouble 
for a few years. He was then in the prime of life and the 
picture of robust health. Mr. Bailey was a man never 
forgotten by any one who once met him. His stalwart 
frame, for he stood five feet ten inches in height, and 
weighed three hundred and forty pounds in his earlier 
manhood, his large head, mobile features, clear blue eyes 
expressing unusual power of penetration, made him promi- 
nent in every throng, however great. No man was better 
known throughout the state or more genuinely loved. 
It is said that a letter was once addressed, "Benjamin 
Franklin, North America," and reached its recipient 
without delay. Any letter addressed to " Horace W. Bailey, 
Vermont," would have had no trouble in getting to him. 

He was a hard man to impose upon, and the person 
who attempted the act never tried it a second time. His 
judgment was sometimes at fault, but seldom in matters 
of business within his personal observation. 

He held a very modest opinion of his own literary 



Business Life 39 

ability, and as at the time mentioned he was more and 
more frequently called upon for public addresses, he be- 
came very solicitous of their quality, and not only care- 
fully wrote out what he intended to say, but, if time per- 
mitted, he submitted his work to the criticism of someone 
else, and was urgent to have any fault or errors pointed 
out. This careful preparation secured his reputation as 
a public speaker. 

But neither the success nor the reputation which he 
won ever impaired the genial warmth of his nature. There 
was nothing of the snob about him. No man was more 
simple, in personal habits. If a man was poor or dis- 
couraged he was sure of a cheerful, encouraging word from 
him. He considered that his own failings should make 
him charitable. We were once speaking of a man who I 
said preached better than he practised, ''And so do I," 
was the rejoinder, "here I'm always preaching to the 
boys not to use tobacco, when I am one of the greatest 
smokers in town." "Ever tried to break it off?" I asked. 
"Well, sir," he replied with a grimace which those who 
knew him will recall, "I don't care to be exphcit on that 
point." I drew my own conclusions, 

Mr. Bailey's connection with fish culture led him to 
become a member of the North America Fish and Game 
Protective Association. In company with Mr. Titcomb 
he had visited Montreal and Ottawa to confer with the 
Canadian authorities regarding the better preservation 
of fish in Lake Champlain and other bodies of water lying 
partly in Vermont and partly in Canada. The objects 
and work of the association are best set forth in the fol- 
lowing letter from Mr. C. H. Wilson of Glens Falls, N. Y., 
dated April 5, 1914: 

Mr. Bailey had a large part in the organization of 
this Association, and left his personal impress upon its 
policies. The objects of the Association as shown in its 
constitution are — "the harmonizing of the laws of the 



40 Horace Ward Bailey 

different Provinces of Canada and the contiguous States 
of the American Union relating to the preservation, propa- 
gation and protection of fish, game, and bird hfe. Also the 
maintenance and improvement of laws relating thereto, 
and mutual assistance in enforcing game and fish laws on 
the borders of the various states and provinces." Further 
there was involved — "the preservation of forests and the 
promotion of fish culture, the introduction of new species 
and varieties of fish, game, and useful birds, and the dis- 
semination of information relating thereto." 

The preliminary meetings, two in number, were held 
in 1900 in Montreal, the first annual meeting being held at 
the same place in 1901. 

The bringing together for conference (probably for 
the first time in the history of the two countries) men 
from various states and provinces, with a wide divergence 
of opinions, entirely unacquainted with each other, each 
unfamiliar with the other's methods of parliamentary 
proceeding, naturally led to confusion and delaJ^ It re- 
mained for Horace W. Bailey as presiding officer to straight- 
en out all the tangles, and in his own generous, open- 
hearted manner to make us all acquainted. Bringing us 
thus together, he prepared us for the great work mapped 
out for the organization as indicated by its constitution 
and by-laws. 

The fact that we started right is shown in the 
splendid constructive work performed by the organiza- 
tion, and the credit for this, in its early history at least, 
should go to Mr. Bailey as much as to anyone connected 
with the organization. 



Public Service 41 



CHAPTER IV. 
PUBLIC SERVICE. 

By this time Horace Bailey had become one of the 
best known men in the state; his abiUty as a public speaker 
and his skill as a presiding officer made it probable that on 
his election to the legislature as town representative from 
Newbury in 1902, he would be chosen speaker of the House 
of Representatives. But he positively dechned the 
nomination, and gave his influence in favor of Mr. Mer- 
rifield of Newfane, who was elected. There was a rea- 
son for his action which was not made public. He 
had been warned by his physician that his health 
might not stand the strain which would be occasioned 
by the strenuous duties of the speakership. He was 
appointed chairman of the important committee on Rail- 
roads, and a member of the joint committee on Temper- 
ance. In both of these departments he introduced and 
advocated several measures designed to simplify the laws 
and make them more effective. • 

Each bill brought before the House underwent his 
careful scrutiny, and his experience made it easy for him 
to reject and revise defective bills. The session was an 
unusually strenuous one. As there had been no choice 
for Governor, the election was thrown into the legislature, 
and the acerbities of the campaign were in evidence in the 
assembly throughout the session. At its close he was ap- 
pointed a Railroad Commissioner. 

During this time, and for years before and afterward, 
Mr. Bailey spent much of his leisure time in the State and 
Historical libraries at Montpelier, searching out rare 
pamphlets, memoirs of forgotten worthies, and incidents 



42 Horace Ward Bailey 

in the earlier history of the state. These researches he 
utihzed in communications to various newspapers in Ver- 
mont and elsewhere, which were widely read. He was 
greatly urged by the writer and others to discontinue this 
desultor}' correspondence, and concentrate his powers 
upon some work which should embody neglected portions 
of Vermont history, of which there are many. His reply 
was to the effect that he intended sometime to retire from 
active life and give his whole time to literary work. But 
the time never came. 

Meanwhile his varied responsibilities were taking him 
more and more from home, but Newbury was still the place 
of his solicitude; he was interested in every person and 
family in the place, and contributed occasionally regarding 
the village and townspeople to the Groton Times, and other 
papers. Having formed no family ties of his own, he was 
greatly attached to his nephews and nieces. He loved to 
meet a few old friends, get into a discussion, "stretch his 
legs and have his talk out." There were some who liked 
to get into argument with him, but his hard commonsense 
was apt to stand square across the path of mere theory. 
A friend of his once set up the claim that a man could not 
enjoj^ what he could not understand. ''Why, yes, he can," 
responded Horace, "I am very fond of music but I don't 
understand it, and I will go a long way to hear a good con- 
cert, yet I don't know one tune from another!" His mind 
was stored with a great variety of anecdotes, he was a 
delightful story-teller, but he was a good listener also, 
and liked to draw other people out. His correspondence 
was extensive, and much of his time was taken up by an- 
swering appeals from persons who had no claim upon him. 

In the spring of 1904 his father's health began to fail, 
and he was, evidently, nearing the end. No man had been 
more respected, and now his children gave him unremit- 
ting care. During the last weeks of his life, so far as was 
possible, Horace arranged his business to spend the Sab- 
bath with his father, the "day of all the week the best" 



Public Service 43 

to him. He died the 18th of June, the last of the twenty- 
nine grandchildren of Webster Bailey. 

All this time Horace was adding to his library, and as 
he had acquired a wide reputation as an authority upon 
early publications relating to Vermont history, he was much 
in correspondence with collectors and librarians in all parts 
of the country, and many rare and valuable books and 
pamphlets were rescued from destruction by him. 

Naturally, being interested in genealogy, Mr. Bailey 
acquired a taste for researches in his own family history, 
and joined the " Bailey-Bayley Family Association." As 
its name indicates this was formed to collect and publish 
the memorials of the various famihes which trace their 
ancestry to several persons bearing these names. They 
came from England about the same time, and were early 
settlers near the mouth of the Merrimac. In 1911 Horace 
Bailey was made president of the association, which meets 
annually, listens to addresses, which are printed afterward, 
views historic sites, and cultivates acquaintance among 
its members, who number several hundred, and are scat- 
tered all over the country. 

His studies among neglected portions of early Vermont 
history led him along hues of inquiry somewhat different 
from those usually followed by its historians, and had his 
life been prolonged these investigations might have been 
embodied in a work of practical value. 

He had also a curiosity regarding the origin of certam 
local designations, which originated at an early day, and 
which, in many instances, still survive. 

He also became much interested in family history in 
its relation to local and state history, and the influence of 
certain families in the politics of the state. This belonged 
to a period long passed. In long-settled communities like 
Newbury, where most of the settlers came from the same 
general locality, family relationships were almost intermin- 
able The late Governor Farnham told me that when he 
came to Bradford in 1840, all the families along the river 



44 Horace Ward Bailey 

road between that towTi and Newbury, a distance of seven 
miles, were related excepting one. 

But these were merely studies with him, fascinating 
indeed, but impossible to carry into execution, and post- 
poned reluctantly. His time was fully employed, the de- 
mands upon him increased, while his strength did not in- 
crease. 

His abilities enabled him to carry along at the same 
time, and without confusion, his several lines of business, 
politics, and public office, and he had them all so well in 
hand that he could, at any time, render a full statement 
concerning any one of them. Yet he never seemed in a 
hurry, and alwaj^s had time for the small courtesies which 
busy men often neglect. 

An observing lad, as he was, could not have gone 
through the fifteen strenuous years which preceded his 
arrival to man's estate without becoming interested in 
politics. This period included the Lincoln campaign, the 
civil war, and the reconstruction period. The old men 
who were his daily companions had been active partici- 
pants in politics from the beginning of the century, suc- 
cessively as Federalists, Whigs, Free Soilers, and Repub- 
licans. At the period of the Masonic controversy they, 
being Masons, were somewhat under the opprobrium of 
those who denounced Masonry. Horace Bailey became, 
naturally, a strong partisan, and an advocate of the men 
and measures of the Republican party. Had he become a 
journalist, as the head of a great newspaper he might have 
wielded a powerful influence in politics, but he never could 
have had any liking for the tricks and artifices of the dema- 
gogue. 

He took an active part in the politics of his time, and 
the following tribute by Col. C. S. Emery indicates the 
manner: 

That Mr. Bailej'- should have early become interested 
in politics was inevitable, due both to his own inclination 



Public Service 45 

and the recognition of his qualities by his townsmen, and 
later by an ever widening circle of friends. He was a 
natural leader, could plan, and in executing his plans never 
despised the drudgery of detail work; he enjoyed it. He 
was early a leader in his village, his town, the county, and 
finally in the state. He grew from a good school official 
to an admirable Town Clerk, State Senator, and later a 
leader in the House of Representatives. He possessed 
an individuality that was at once attractive and confi- 
dence-inspiring, and to such an extent that he was always 
"Horace," rarely "Mr. Bailey." His helpfulness and 
good nature were always dominant factors in his make up, 
and these quahties coupled with the fact that he was a 
good fighter, a cheerful loser, and a modest winner made him 
in constant demand in political affairs. Aside from his 
service on local committees he was for ten years a member 
of the State Committee of his party, one of its most effi- 
cient and resourceful workers. He never did anything 
exactly like anyone else, and his originality was never 
better displayed than in his management of the various 
campaigns when serving on the State Committee. 

As a member of the Senate in 1894 he occupied a 
strong position, having as his colleague from Orange County 
the late J. K. Darling, who though often differing with 
him always maintained the highest regard for his integrity 
and good judgment. In the session of 1902 when he repre- 
sented his town in the House he was easily among the few 
leaders. This was a stormy session due to the license 
question, but here as always he was absolutely faithful 
to his pledge and his convictions. He was a member of 
the committeee which by a majority of one reported the 
bill which constituted the license local option law now in 



46 Horace Ward Bailey 

force. While he never laid claim to being an absolute 
teetotaler, yet he believed firmly that the saloon was not 
adapted to Vermont conditions, and it was on this issue 
that he made his hardest work count in opposition to the 
bill, which by its terms was to be submitted to the voters 
in January following the session. Into this campaign 
he threw himself with all his characteristic energy and cour- 
age, regardless of its influence upon any political ambi- 
tions he may have had, and served on the committee of 
fifteen which opposed the ratification of the law at the 
polls. He met the issue squarely. In his home town at 
a public meeting soon after the session adjourned he ad- 
dressed his fellow townsmen on the issue, and as reported 
in a newspaper at the time: "He spoke in a very able way 
on the two temperance bills which have been before the 
Legislature, and made clear to all the nature of the 
referendum contained in the majority bill. In a con- 
cise and definite way Mr. Bailey set forth the situation 
brought about through the passage of the high license 
measure which is to be referred, in a way, to the people 
next January. A vote was taken by the people express- 
ing their appreciation of the stand taken by their Repre- 
sentative in the recent temperance legislation and for the 
enlightenment gained through the address of the evening. " 
Had he retained his health who can say what further 
honors might have been awaiting him on the expiration of 
his term as Marshal. One thing is certain he was fitted for 
any, including the Governorship, and some of them would 
most surely have come to him. 

Of his work as a member of the board of railroad 
commissioners his colleague, Hon. Fuller C. Smith of 
St. Albans is best qualified to speak: 



Public Service 47 

In the legislature of 1902 the town of Newbury was 
represented by Mr. Bailey. It was the strenuous session 
when the election of governor was thrown into the general 
assembly by the failure of the republican candidate to re- 
ceive a majority of the votes cast for that office. Mr. 
Bailey was elected as a republican and his vote was therefore 
cast in the general assembly for John G. McCullough, the 
candidate of his party. Throughout the session Mr. Bailey 
took an active interest in legislation affecting the railroad 
interests of the state; his experience in this and previous 
legislatures and his wide acquiantance throughout the 
state marked him as a man of broad affairs and solid judg- 
ment. In 1894 Mr. Bailey was a member of the Senate 
and served on the Senate committee on railroads; in the 
general assembly of 1902 he was made chairman of the 
house committee on railroads and on account of his ex- 
perience and because of his fairness of judgment and his 
keen appreciation of the needs of the people of Vermont 
in matters w^here their interests and the interests of the 
transportation companies came in contact, he was selected 
as a member of the board of railroad commissioners by 
Governor McCullough in December 1902, and associated 
with him were Henry S. Bingham of Bennington and the 
writer. 

Mr, Bailey's service as a member of the board was of 
brief duration, being terminated by his appointment by 
President Roosevelt in October 1903 as United States 
Marshal. But during his incumbency of the office of rail- 
road commissioner he developed an enthusiastic interest 
in his work and appreciated very keenly the difficulties 
experienced by the people in securing relief from grievances 
which originated from the operation of the railroads in 



48 Horace Ward Bailey 

the state. The right of "the under dog" always appealed 
to his large-heartedness and a petitioner always found in 
Horace W. Bailey a sympathetic listener to the statement 
of his wrongs. He was in every sense a fair man who 
weighed carefully the claims of both parties to a controversy 
and who wanted, in every instance, to do exact justice. 
He had broad ideas of the rights of property, of conditions 
which confronted the transportation companies of Vermont 
and New England and at all times he recognized that the 
development of Vermont required intelligent assistance 
from the great railroad corporations which traverse its 
valleys. His idea was that co-operation must exist be- 
tween these great corporations and the people in order for 
both to progress and ultimately acquire the success which 
each sought to accomplish. 

Mr. Bailey did not much care for the strict construc- 
tion of the rules of law and evidence. He was willing to 
get at the facts even in a somewhat round-about way and 
perhaps bj- doing some violence to the established methods 
of procedure in hearings upon petitions to right alleged 
grievances. And yet he would not consent to strain the 
jurisdiction which the legislative body had granted to the 
commission; when the law was not broad enough to give 
relief that seemed rightful, he would not assume the right 
to grant it but held that the legislature erred in not pro- 
viding a way of relief and the responsibility for the failure 
was theirs. All through his term as a railroad commis- 
sioner he bewailed the lack of power conferred by the law 
upon the board, recognizing in advance the trend of the 
times and the coming change which later made the law a 
virile power for good. And he was independent of the 
executive authority which made him a member of the 



Public Service 49 

board. No interference was attempted, but it would have 
met with scant welcome from a man who, though loyal 
to his social and political friends, was the master of himself 
and increasingly so with ripening years. 

His appointment to the United States Marshalship 
was a deserved tribute to him but it was also a distinct loss 
to the state, because it removed him from a position where 
he could and would have done a great service to its people. 
As a member of the board of railroad commissioners he 
would have added yearly to his activities and made a very 
valuable contribution to the history of transportation in 
Vermont. 



(4) 



50 Horace Waed Bailey 



CHAPTER V. 
TEN ACTIVE YEARS. 

The ten last years of Horace Bailey's life were the 
most eventful, and the most fruitful of result, for he was 
then in his prime and with natural abilities expanded and 
strengthened by business experience, by wide acquaint- 
ance with men, and by reading and study alike discrim- 
inating and comprehensive. As a busy man, with many 
and imperative demands upon his time, only a limited 
and irregular portion of it could be given to the latter. 
His appointment to the position of United States Marshal 
for Vermont, to which we shall later refer more particu- 
larly, made a thorough knowledge of public affairs impera- 
tive; his duties called him into all parts of the state, and 
at the same time gave opportunity to gather minute in- 
formation regarding the history of each locality. Much 
of this, committed to memory, but not written, has un- 
fortunately died with him. But he preserved enough of 
it, in the form of newspaper contributions, to enrich greatly, 
if properly employed, that complete history of the state 
which is yet to be written. 

His career of steady advancement had been regarded 
with admiration by most, and with envy by a few. No 
man wholly escapes detraction, but his simple life and 
modest bearing left little place for censure. He was wholly 
devoid of personal vanity, and the demeanor of superiority 
which the possession of public office confers upon so many, 
had no place with him. His tastes were simple, he dressed 
plainly, preferred the society of plain people, disliked the 
bustle of hotel life, and while at Rutland for a time took 
his meals with a Newbury family living there, in which, 



Ten Active Years 51 

he said, he "got just the kind of cooking mother used to 
have." 

It would be hard to find a man in public life whose 
personal expenses were less, and he probably spent more in 
charities of various kinds than upon himself. But of 
these he seems to have kept no account. Among other 
beneficiaries were several boys in different parts of the 
state whom he assisted in various ways, by advice, by 
suggestion, or by loans or gifts. His wide acquaintance 
among business men made it easy for him to find employ- 
ment for boys and young men and for these wards of his 
he continued a personal interest, which many men now in 
successful life gratefully remember. He liked to get hold 
of a new boy, "size him up," as he called it, and suggest 
the career for which he seemed best fitted. He understood 
boys as few men have done, and it grieved him sadly when 
any of his "boys" went wrong. He loved to correspond 
with those whom he had "looked after," and in his diary 
mentions that when in different parts of the country on 
pubhc business, he had "looked up" such a one. The 
tidings of his death came to many as the loss of their best 
friend. 

It was this personal and kindly interest in boys and 
young men which endeared him to so many. "Boys 
grow up to be men, " he used to say, "and it's a sight easier 
to start a boy right than to make a man over." When 
traveling he usually contrived to get acquainted with some 
lad on the train, and many a boy, and many a wearied 
mother will remember the stalwart gentleman who took 
charge of the tired and restless lad, and made the journey 
a delight. In his later years he was known as "Uncle 
Horace," rather than as "Mr. Bailey." 

Such 

"Little, nameless, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love" 

would have atoned for greater failings than he ever had. 



52 Horace Ward Bailey 

Mr. Bailey was appointed by President McKinley 
as United States Marshal for Vermont in October, 1903. 
His official residence was thenceforth at Rutland, but he 
still considered Newbury his home, where he kept his 
office and library, voted and paid taxes, spending as much 
time as he could spare among the scenes of his youth. 

The duty of a United States Marshal is to attend the 
several terms of court in person, so far as it may be prac- 
ticable, to execute, or cause to be executed all lawful pre- 
cepts directed to him, and issued under the authority of 
the United States, to promptly defray judicial expenses, 
and to perform such other duties as may be required by 
law or regulation. The Marshal's duties are the same as 
those of a Sheriff of a County, except that one looks after 
the laws of the United States, while the other looks after 
the laws of the state in which he lives. The Marshal is 
under the Department of Justice, the same as the District 
Judge. Of his work as Marshal, his chief deputy, Mr. 
F. H. Chapman, is best quahfied to speak: — 

As a federal officer Horace Ward Bailey became 
known to hundreds of citizens of Vermont in the transac- 
tion of his duties as United States Marshal. If ever the 
man's unostentatiousness was strikingly illustrated and 
the soft side of his big heart exposed, it was during his 
term of office under the Federal government. Though 
strict in carrying out the mandates of the court there was 
always that touch of love for his fellowman in his every 
act that won for him a feeling of respect and admiration 
from the men and women who unfortunately came into 
his custody. 

There was that subtle something about our departed 
friend which divorced him entirely from the austerity of 
the law which commanded him to do the court's bidding. 
There was an undimmed ray of sunshine about the man 



Ten Active Years 53 

which one could not associate with the machinery of the 
Federal courts. Though his official duties required him 
at times to perform acts distasteful, he never swerved and 
there are scores of persons who will bear testimony to the 
fact that he was a diplomat in addition to being a Federal 
police officer. 

To him, the marshalship was not a political plum. 
It was a stewardship which he insisted in carrying out in 
strict conformity to the rules laid down by the Depart- 
ment of Justice. 

However, he was gifted with that rarest of traits, judg- 
ment. As a student of human nature Mr. Bailey had 
weighed and measured scores of persons with whom he 
officially came in contact. Many of those persons received 
the benefit of his keen analysis and were granted priv- 
ileges which he saw fit to extend consistently. It was that 
trait of being able to judge men accurately and quickly 
which made Mr. Bailey highly competent for the duties 
of marshal. 

He could detect the impostor, and while he might not 
care to wound the feelings of such an individual, he knew 
exactly how to deal with him. On the other side, he had 
a tender spot for those struggling under real affliction and 
there are unnumbered instances where the genial Marshal 
helped to lighten the burdens of unfortunates who came 
under his official authority. 

Mr. Bailey served as United States Marshal from 
November 2, 1903, to January 6, 1914. His first appoint- 
ment was made by President William McKinley on October 
21, 1903. He qualified the second of the following month, 
having filed his bond which was accepted by the late Judge 
Hoyt H. Wheeler, before whom Mr. Bailey took the oath 



54 Horace Ward Bailey 

of office as marshal. Marshal Bailey's first official act was 
the appointment of Frank H. Chapman of Rutland as 
chief deputy, who continued as such and in charge of the 
marshal's office until Mr. Bailey's death. Mr. Chapman, 
at the time of Mr. Bailey's appointment, was the marshal, 
having been appointed by the Judge of the United States 
District court to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of 
the former marshal. 

Mr. Bailey's first appointment was what is termed a 
"recess" appointment. Congress not being in session 
when the appointment was made, and therefore not able 
to confirm him. When Congress convened on the first 
Monday in December, 1903, the nomination of Mr. Bailey 
was sent to the Senate by President McKinley, and was 
soon confirmed. This appointment was for four years and 
made it necessary that Mr. Bailey again name deputies. 
He reappointed as his chief deputy Mr. Chapman and for 
his field deputies he named Luke Parish of Randolph 
Center and Lorenzo D. Miles of Newport. On February 
3, 1905, Mr. Parish resigned and Thomas Reeves of Bur- 
lington was appointed the same day. The latter remained 
in office during the remainder of Mr. Bailey's incumbency, 
being reappointed each time Mr. Bailey received reap- 
pointment. 

During the administration of Mr. Bailey as United 
States Marshal he had several field deputies. A field 
deputy receives compensation for only such cases as may 
be assigned to him and is not on a salary. Among such 
deputies who served under him in addition to those men- 
tioned above were C. C. Graves of Waterbury, Ralph C. 
Sulloway of St. Johnsbury, E. F. Miles of Newport, Erastus 
Buck of Newport, E. S. Whittaker of Rutland, Harry 



Ten Active Years 55 

Chase of Bennington and Wilbur H. Worthen of St. Johns- 
bury. Mr. Chase was named as a special deputy in con- 
nection with the enforcement of the Federal game law, 
known as the Lacy Act. Deputies Chapman, Graves, 
Reeves, Whittaker and Buck were in office at the time of 
Mr. Bailey's death. 

Mr. Bailey enjoyed being in court and was a strict 
disciplinarian. His bearing as a court officer was so marked 
that when he rapped for attention or spoke, all eyes were 
upon him; his requests for order or upon other matters 
were always heeded. 

The methodical traits of the man were evidenced by 
the elaborate and accurate record which he kept of all 
arrests made by himself or his deputies during his entire 
administration. This record shows just what offence 
was charged in each case, what disposition was made of 
the prisoner, by whom arrested, and if committed, to what 
institution. There were many interesting and amusing 
sidelights connected with his administration and among 
them may be mentioned his connection with the sale of 
contraband articles seized at Vermont ports of entry in 
an effort to stop smuggling operations. At one time he 
sold at public auction a large quantity of smuggled furs, 
the sale being conducted in Burlington and netting the 
government over $1200. Another important sale of 
smuggled goods conducted by him was that of a quantity 
of laces, dresses, table-linens, and other fabrics, in all over 
500 pieces. This sale attracted many women and netted 
the government over $3800. 

Marshal Bailey was connected with two murder trials 
during his term of office, one being the case of Mary Rogers, 
the last woman to be hanged in Vermont, and the other 



56 Horace Ward Bailey 

that of Matthew Carlisle, the colored trooper of the Tenth 
United States cavalry, who killed a soldier of the same 
command on the government reservation at Fort Ethan 
Allen on October 10, 1911. It has often been remarked 
by close friends of the dead marshal that a load was lifted 
from Mr. Bailey's mind when the jury recommended 
clemency in returning a verdict of guilty against Carlisle. 
In the case of Mary Rogers, Federal jurisdiction was ac- 
quired by virtue of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus 
brought before Judge Wheeler. The case was taken to the 
United States Supreme Court which decided adversely 
to the petitioner. Federal jurisdiction attached to the 
act of Carlisle, because the shooting occurred on govern- 
ment property. Mr. Bailey had confided to his intimate 
friends that in case of his having to act as hangman he did 
not know whether he could stand such an ordeal. 

Many of the duties of his office could be intrusted to 
his deputies, and this left him considerable time for his 
own affairs, and the historical research which he loved. 
He wisely confined these studies to the early history of 
the state. 

Although he had always been much "on the road" 
his travels had never taken him very far from the Atlantic 
seaboard, with the exceptions, I think, of attending the 
Expositions at Chicago and Buffalo. In September, 1905, 
he joined an excursion party to attend the G. A. R. re- 
union at Denver, Colo., visiting Silver Plume, Colorado 
Springs, Pike's Peak and other noted resorts, stopping on 
his return at Topeka, Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit. 
His observations during this trip were recorded in letters 
to several newspapers of the state. In the spring of 1906, 
he contemplated an extended journey to the Pacific Coast, 
which was to include Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, San 



Ten Active Years 57 

Francisco, and Los Angeles, returning by way of New 
Orleans. This he intended should take several weeks of 
autumn. But in the summer the pain in his left foot be- 
came severe, and he postponed the journey and submitted to 
a course of treatment which gave him some relief for a few 
months. 

His diary records that on the 8th of May, 1907, he 
attended a meeting of the Congregational Club at Rutland, 
and in the night the swelling in his foot made such progress 
that a doctor was called, and on the twelfth he was taken 
to the City Hospital where he remained until the twenty- 
fifth of November. Several minor operations failing of 
relief — his left foot was amputated on the tenth of July. 
One month later he was able to leave his room for the 
hospital piazza, and on the nineteenth of August he rode 
out for the first time. On the first of November his arti- 
ficial limb was fitted, and on the fifth he records in his 
diary — "Getting acquainted with my artificial!" Ten 
days later he walked out, attending court on the 20th. 
On the 26th he was discharged from the hospital, returning 
to Newbury for Thanksgiving at the old home. 

During this long period, especially trying to a man 
of his active habits, he was the most considerate of 
patients, his cheerfulness and good humor never forsook 
him, and, as soon as permitted, he had an apparatus con- 
trived so that he could write while lying in bed. The 
progress of his disease and recovery had been watched 
with solicitude and concern by his friends in all parts of 
the state, and he was heartily congratulated upon his re- 
appearance in public. 

Some of his best literary work was done while in the 
hospital. He never failed of a daily entry in his diary, in 
which it is characteristic that he made no mention of his 
sufferings but carefully recorded the names of the friends 
who had called upon him. 

His next considerable public service was as a member 
of a commission appointed by Governor Proctor, in pur- 



58 Horace Wabd Bailey 

suance of a resolution of the legislature of 1906, for the 
proper observance of the three hundredth anniversary of 
the discovery of Lake Champlain. This anniversary, 
which was held during the week beginning July 4, 1909, 
consisted of commemorative exercises at Swanton, Vergen- 
nes, Burlington, and Isle La Motte, attended by great 
throngs, and honored by the presence of President Taft 
and members of his cabinet, many prominent citizens of 
Vermont, New York and Canada, Ambassador Bryce of 
England and Ambassador Jusserand of France. Com- 
plete accounts of this celebration are preserved in memo- 
rial volumes published by the states of Vermont and New 
York. 

Mr. Bailey's especial part in this commission, which 
consisted of nine members, and the Governor of the state, 
to each of whom a special work was allotted, was the 
preparation of a booklet which embodied a compendium 
of the history and geography of Lake Champlain and its 
region, an edition of 35,000 being distributed through the 
State. His historical knowledge of the events which the oc- 
casion celebrated made him a valued member of the com- 
mission, while his sound judgment was always helpful in 
deciding puzzling details of the notable event. 

He prepared descriptive articles upon the coming 
celebration in the Travel Magazine, and the Magazine 
of American History. He also contributed to the press 
within and without the state regarding the celebration. 
He was able to attend nearly all the functions of the week 
and at the banquet in the Vergennes celebration was one 
of the after-dinner speakers. His witty address is else- 
where given. It is thoroughly characteristic of Mr. 
Bailey and as an after-dinner speech is a gem. 

During the four succeeding years some of his best 
literary work was done, for his style had then acquired a 
finish and an elegance which had been long in developing. 
Examples of his best work follow in this volume. But the 
incessant calls upon his time, resulting from his business, 



Ten Active Years 59 

official and political responsibilities; the amount of his 
correspondence, much of which could not be delegated to 
his secretary; the minute personal care which he gave to 
each detail of his work, left him only an occasional hour for 
that form of diversion. Then, also, his health required con- 
siderable abstinence from active duty. Bright's Disease is 
without remedy, he had been warned that the relief afforded 
by amputation might be only temporary, and his diary 
shows that he was frequently obliged to consult his phy- 
sician. But of this he said nothing, went about his affairs 
cheerfully, hoped for the best, and believed that in spite 
of all predictions, he should die of old age. 

He had been a member of the Vermont Historical 
Society since 1886, and took an active interest in the 
affairs of the organization, seldom missing a meeting, and 
by voice and pen promoting the objects for which it was 
formed. On November 10, 1908, he was elected a Vice 
President of the Society, an office which he held until his 
death. It was principally through his influence that by 
a joint resolution of the legislature of 1910 the Governor 
was authorized to appoint three commissioners to submit 
plans to the legislature of 1912 for a suitable memorial to 
Judge Daniel P. Thompson, author of "The Green Moun- 
tain Boys," that classic of New England youth. Mr. 
Bailey, W. J. Van Patten and M. J. Hapgood, were ap- 
pointed the committee, which procured a bronze tablet, 
suitably inscribed, which was placed beneath Judge Thomp- 
son's portrait in the reception room at the state capitol. 
This report and other matter relating to the memorial will 
be found in this volume. 

He was a member also of the New York State Histor- 
ical Association, whose headquarters are at Caldwell, 
and which has published several volumes of collections 
mainly relating to early events in the north-eastern part 
of the state of New York. 

During the week beginning August 11, 1912, the 
150th anniversary of the settlement of Newbury was cele- 



60 Horace Ward Bailey 

bratecl by appropriate exercises which continued ddring 
five days. The observance was commenced by a series 
of resolutions introduced in the annual town meeting in 
Newbury in March, 1910, by Mr. Nelson Bailey of Wells 
River. Committees were chosen and the arrangements 
completed during the intervening time including a re- 
union of students of Newbury Seminary, and the annual 
gathering of the Orange County Veterans' Association. 
Public meetings were held at West Newbury, Newbury 
and Wells River. Memorial tablets marking the sites of 
the Old State House in which the legislature of 1801 was 
convened, the' Court House of Gloucester County, the 
site of the log meeting house of the first settlers, and the 
spot where Col. Thomas Johnson began settlement were 
dedicated at Newbury with appropriate addresses, and 
another, at the starting point of the Bayley-Hazen military 
road at Wells River. An address commemorating the life 
and public services of General Jacob Bayley, by Hon. 
Edwin A. Bayley of Boston, was followed by the unveiling 
of a fine monument upon the common to his memory. 

Mr. Bailey presided at several of these gatherings, 
and delivered several addresses, but his diary shows that 
the tax upon his strength was a severe one. The "Old 
Home Week " was a great success. The addresses and other 
matter with illustrations, were published in pamphlet 
form, under Mr. Bailey's oversight. 

A pathetic sequel to the Seminary re-union, which had 
attracted former students from all parts of the country 
to look again upon the once familiar scenes, was the change 
which within a year had fallen upon what remained of the 
institution. In that time the two former principals, 
King and Quimby, who then survived, and three of the 
under-teachers had passed away, the old Seminary edifice 
with the two large buildings which served in its time as 
boarding houses for students, and three houses in which 
former principals had resided, had disappeared in the con- 
flagration which visited the village on the 13th of June, 
1913. 



Ten Active Years 61 

A Tribute to Mr. Bailey. 

BY MR. E. S. WHITTAKER. 

It has been suggested that I write something of my 
knowledge of the life of the late Horace W. Bailey. 

I did not know Mr. Bailey intimately until 1904, 
when he asked me to take an appointment as Deputy 
U. S. Marshal. From that time I came to know the true 
worth of the man and it was a matter of pride with me to 
be associated with him. One of the finest tributes to his 
name is the interest which he took in boys and young men, 
and one of the greatest of his pleasures was the knowledge 
that he had helped one. In the passing of Mr. Bailey the 
boys of Vermont have lost a true friend and advisor. 

In his good nature there was a goodly amount of 
mirth with no small sprinkling of wit. I recall one instance 
in December, 1911, when a prisoner was sentenced to 
Atlanta, Ga. The deputies prevailed upon the Marshal 
to make the trip, and upon advice that the prisoner was a 
desperate character, Mr. Bailey took an extra guard. 
The prisoner proved to be a most inoffensive unfortunate, 
and during the entire trip, including cros'feing New York 
city, and from the Atlanta railroad station to the street 
railway, the man took charge of Mr. Bailey's travelling bag. 
Later the Marshal in reciting the experience, remarked that 
he guessed the bag was safer in Ward Tolan's (the prisoner) 
hands, than in possession of some of the Immigrant In- 
spectors. 

Another amusing incident on this trip occurred at 
Greensboro, N. C. When we arrived at that station we 
went at once to the railroad restaurant for lunch, and as 
we returned to board our train a young man accosted 



62 Horace Ward Bailey 

Mr. Bailey as follows (thinking the Marshal was a Priest) : 
"Where are you going, Father?" "To San Antonio, 
Texas," was his reply. "Why, Father, that is not the 
train," the young man continued. Mr. Bailey, without 
stopping, said "Young man, probably I don't know where 
I am going." 

Mr. Bailey was one who never lost his presence of 
mind. As we were travelling in North Carolina, during 
the evening on the trip that has just been referred to, 
Captain Hyland (the other guard) had been narrating to 
us the new military formations with considerable detail. 
All of a sudden the train was ditched and we were tipped 
partly over, whereupon the Marshal commented thus: 
"This is the first time I ever knew that the Captain could 
talk a Pullman train off the iron. " This incident happened 
near King's Mountain, of Revolutionary fame, and it gave 
the party an opportunity to visit the place and see the 
British monument, which is erected over the grave of Gen. 
Ferguson, who fell while in command of the British forces. 
Mr, Bailey took deep interest in this place. 



The Last Year 63 



CHAPTER VI. 
THE LAST YEAR. 

In May, 1913, he joined an excursion of the Fat Men's 
Club, of whose unique organization he had been an early- 
member, on a voyage to Bermuda. For the first time in 
his life he was "out of sight of land." The voyage, the 
island and its tropical scenery were to him a dehght and 
an inspiration. He was enraptured with the sea, and the 
bright scenery of the tropics, and seriously contemplated, 
he wrote, "if I am spared, " a trip to Europe. 

Near the end of June he returned to Newbury "to a 
scene of desolation, " for the fire which had visited the vil- 
lage, had wiped out some of the landmarks of the place. 
He attended a meeting of the town school district in Chad- 
wick Hall, where he spoke earnestly in favor of a new and 
up-to-date building which was later erected on the site of 
the old Seminary. He also arranged for repairs and addi- 
tions to his office. The disaster which had befallen the 
village affected him greatly, "like the loss of as many 
friends." It seemed to some who met him then that he 
had aged very much in the past few months, but he was 
cheerful and met all with the same hearty cordiality. 

On the 19th of August his townspeople were shocked 
to learn that he was again in the hospital, and that he had 
undergone the amputation of his other foot. With his 
usual solicitude for the feelings of his relatives, he had 
taken care that they should not learn of what impended, 
till it was over. It had been known that he was under 
treatment, "for a httle while," as he had written. Mr. 
Chapman, who was with him at the end, thus describes 
his last days. 



64 Horace Ward Bailey 

He re-entered the institution in July, 1913, where the 
surgeons decided it was necessary to amputate the right 
leg below the knee. He never lost cheerfulness as operation 
after operation became necessary, but seemed to grow 
sweeter as his afflictions increased. The stump healed 
much more rapidly than the other had done several years 
before, and in October he was fitted with a second artifi- 
cial limb. When he returned to his work after this, he took 
pride in showing his friends how well he could walk on the 
two artificial limbs. By the use of two canes he made 
good progress, and was able to go out a short distance on 
foot for his meals. 

On November 28th, he returned to his office in the 
Federal building in Rutland and expressed himself as 
happy to be back with his associates, among his books, 
and in close touch with the routine of his official duties. 
Though obhged to use two artificial legs, Mr. Bailey 
laughingly remarked that they were better than no pedal 
extremities, and often joked with his friends over what 
other men would have mourned as a terrible affliction. 

During his confinement in the hospital he was always 
in touch with the administration of affairs in his office. 

On the 19th of November he wrote a characteristic 
letter, to Mr. Arthur L. Weeks, Immigration Inspector 
at Montreal: — 

Dear Arthur, 

Thanks for your letter and the information about . 



I am sure you have given him as good advice as I could do. 
I left the hospital three weeks ago today, and am getting 
along as well in the art of walking on stilts and balancing, 
as one of my age and sprightly habits could well expebt. 



The Last Yeae 65 

To be legless, or rather, footless, has several notable ad- 
vantages and a few drawbacks. I shall, nevertheless, 
overcome difficulties because I must. '.^ Think of what 
an act of discourtesy to Bro. Wilson it would be to resign 
my office in the midst of all his other troubles. 

With vociferous Christmas greetings to yourself, my 
old friends Wallace and King, and any others on the 
mourner's bench, I am yours truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 

Again to quote Mr. Chapman:— 

On December 21, 1913, his health began to fail and 
a short time after he was stricken with the illness which 
made necessary his return to the hospital. He entered the 
institution on the 24th of December, confident that he 
would again mend in health and return to his desk, but 
whether or not he realized that the hand of death was 
beckoning him will never be known for he never expressed 
the belief that he would not recover. 

His last official act was performed on the third of 
January, 1914, when he signed the December Quarterly 
Accounts, taking his oath to the same. It might be men- 
tioned that this account was the largest single account 
during his long administration as Marshal. 

At 7:30 o'clock on the evening of January 6, 1914, 
his spirit took flight, and his noble, generous heart was 
stilled forever. 

To many a man who may read this tribute to Marshal 
Bailey there is bound to come a heart-throb as 

"Through a mist of unshed tears 
The mind goes back across 
The chasm made by years," 

(5) 



66 Horace Ward Bailey 

and he recollects the occasion when the former Marshal 
gave him a hand-clasp and advice during a dark hour. 

As the United States Marshal for the District of Ver- 
mont, Horace Ward Bailey added to an ever-widening 
circle of acquaintance by tempering justice with mercy, by 
amalgamating common-sense with the rules of his depart- 
ment, and in illustrating by example the precept that " one 
touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 

His body was brought at once to a room in the Federal 
Building where it was prepared for burial. This was on 
Tuesday. On Thursday morning services attended by about 
a hundred friends were held in the Court Room in the same 
building. Passages of Scripture were read by Rev. Arthur 
H. Bradford, pastor of the 1st Congregational Church of 
Rutland, who offered the following appropriate prayer: 

Eternal God, our Heavenly Father, we look to Thee 
with great thanksgiving and with keen realization of our 
need for what Thou alone canst give. Thou hast granted 
us life and blessed us with friendships which make life 
worthful. For all Thy mercies of every kind and especi- 
ally for the bonds of friendship we are grateful to Thee. 
But when the voice of a friend is still and we can no longer 
clasp his hand we must turn to Thee for help. Thou alone 
canst assure us that the things which are seen are temporal 
but the things which are not seen are eternal. So, while 
with reverent gladness we thank Thee for the friend in 
whose honor we have gathered here, we beseech Thee to 
make us vividly conscious of the presence of his spirit and 
Thine own. Grant us blessed certainty that Thou in Thy 
love dost never leave nor forsake a single one of Thy chil- 
dren and that the human ties which Thou dost bless on 
the earth endure through all eternity. 



The Last Year 67 

We are indeed thankful to Thee for our friend. This 
room speaks of him. This building, where he lived and 
worked, will always make us think of him. His life and 
work were, we know, well pleasing in Thy sight. He was 
faithful, kind, brave and unconquerably cheerful. He had 
much to bear but his voice never lost the hearty ring of 
youth, and his eyes always seemed to see the sunshine be- 
yond the clouds. He was good citizen, loyal friend and 
every inch a man. He rendered unique service by his 
influence on all who knew him. No one could ever be 
dispirited by the sight of his laboring or even of his suffering. 
His good humor and his courage were contagious. Un- 
consciously he helped many by his indomitable optimism. 
The people of this community and of the State which he 
loved and served so long and so well, and many beyond its 
borders are thinking of him today and the world seems a 
lonelier place because he is no longer to be seen in it. But 
his work and influence will endure. O we thank Thee, 
Heavenly Father, for what he did and for what he was and 
most of all for what he is. We believe that Thou hast 
taken him to the house not made with hands, eternal, 
in the heavens; but we know that he is also among us, that 
his memory will always speak of the overcoming life which 
he lived and that the results of his labors are to grow in 
value as the years pass. 

We pray for Thine especial blessing upon those who 
were nearest and dearest to him, his kindred and those 
associated with him in his work, and all who, in the last 
days, watched by his side to do what they could for his 
comfort. Help them and help us all to realize that he and 
we and all men are within the circle of Thy care, that what 
seems worst turns the best to the brave, that life is eternal. 



68 Horace Ward Bailey 

Send us forth from this place, we beseech Thee, with 
renewed courage and determination and power to carry our 
burdens and to perform our tasks and to meet every ex- 
perience with something of the same spirit as that of the 
friend and fellow-citizen whom we now commit unto Thee. 

These things, with whatever else Thou seest that we 
need, we ask in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 

Following the service the body was taken to the train, 
and via Bellows Falls to Newbury, where it was placed in 
the farm-house at the homestead, the residence of his 
brother, Warren W. Bailey. 

Funeral services of simple character were held in the 
Methodist church at Newbury, which was completely 
filled with his townspeople, and by friends from abroad. 
They consisted of the reading of passages of Scripture, 
with a eulogy by Rev. John M. Thomas, D.D., President 
of Middlebury College, and prayer by the pastor. Rev. 
E. M. Sturtevant. His burial was in the historic Oxbow 
cemetery, among the scenes he loved so well, where rest 
so many of his neighbors and kindred. 

The bearers were his deputies Thomas Reeves of Bur- 
lington and C. C. Graves of Waterbury, and E. S. Whit- 
taker and F. H. Chapman of Rutland, with his nephews, 
William C. Chamberlin and Horace W. Bailey, 2d, of 
Newbury. 

The tributes which his death called from the press 
of the state were universal and sincere, testifying less to the 
official or the man of business than to the lovable character, 
the honest life, the hearty friendship, the genial nature of 
the man who had filled so large a part in the affairs of Ver- 
mont. He had been Marshal for ten years, about one year 
of which had been spent in the hospital, in great physical 
pain, yet he enjoyed life to the last, and while he would 
gladly have been spared to larger service, he passed away 
without repining. 



The Last Year 69 

Following is the eulogy of President Thomas: — 

I shall not speak in general terms, nor undertake 
learned words concerning the mystery in whose presence we 
stand. I can not speak dispassionately, with cool analysis 
and calm estimate. I lay no claim to freedom from pre- 
judice. Horace Bailey was my friend. I warmed to him, 
as to but few men I have ever known, and I never was in his 
presence that I did not feel the impact of his generous, 
whole-hearted affection toward me, as hundreds of you 
have felt the same. 

You will pardon me, my friends, if my words are few. 
We can not measure a tribute to a good man, nor to a 
sacred memory, by its length. Three miles south of my 
home is a soldiers' monument beside a country church. 
On its face is the shield of the United States, the dates 
1861-1865, and two words, "Cornwall Remembers." It 
is a perfect inscription. Who shall say that the town of 
Cornwall bears any the less honor for its soldier dead be- 
cause it could homage their memory in two words? We 
need not many for our good friend here. Horace Bailey 
was a plain, simple Vermonter, and there should be no 
attempt at anything elaborate or ornate in his memory. 

I emphasize first that he was a Vermonter in affec- 
tion and loyalty. He would stand no reproach against 
Vermont. He was not over tolerant of criticism of our 
state, even when it attempted to be fair and directed to- 
ward a good end. He loved Vermont so much that any- 
thing that seemed to wound her hurt him to the heart. 

He was a Vermonter also in characteristics and taste. 
He belonged right here among our green hills and the 
touch of the mountain sod was on him. No man could 
mistake him for a citizen of any other state. He had the 



70 Horace Ward Bailey 

Vermonter's disregard of conventionalities. He scorned 
formalities aped from a life to which he was not born. 
Independent, ruggedly free, he guided his conduct by his 
own good sense, and gave scant place to changing custom. 
He never had occasion to be ashamed of his Vermont ways 
or the Vermont tang of his speech. I have seen him in 
the company of men of high position in other states and in 
the nation, but I never saw him depart a whit from his Ver- 
mont manner, by which he unfailingly commanded respect. 

He was a Vermonter of great service to his native 
state. As an official, whether of his town, or the state, 
or the past 10 years of the United States, his fundamental 
quality was honesty. There was something peculiarly 
transparent, and thorough, and unflinching in the honesty 
of all his ways. Always faithful to a trust, sound and sen- 
sible in judgment, carrying weight by his probity and sim- 
ple sincerity, town and state and nation have large reason 
to be grateful to him for his many years of devoted public 
service. 

For 20 years he was school superintendent in this 
town, and he never ceased to be an active, intelligent pro- 
moter of the best interests of the public schools of Vermont. 
The flags on every school house in the state should be at 
half-mast today, for it was by Horace Bailey's efforts that 
they were put there. He urged effectively the teaching of 
Vermont history in the schools, that the children might 
grow up to reverence the great deeds of the past and learn 
to love Vermont as he loved her. 

He was a great friend of boys. He always had a boy 
about him, partly to help the boy, but also because he liked 
to have a boy around. There is many a boy who has lost 
a good friend today. 



The Last Yeab 71 

Horace Bailey's services to Vermont history are not 
yet fully appreciated, and will not be until after many 
years. It was the passion of his life. How he conceived 
it I cannot tell, but many years ago he began the study of 
the history of our state and the collection of historical 
material. His industry was indefatigable and his skill 
and knowledge were worthy of a master. It will do no 
harm for me to reveal that about a year ago one of the 
colleges of the state proposed to give public recognition of 
his services to the history of Vermont and invited him to 
attend its commencement to receive an honorary degree. 
He was assured that he was eminently worthy of it, that 
his friends and fellow-citizens would applaud the honor, 
but no amount of persuasion could overcome the scruples 
of modesty, and he declined. But now I confer the degree 
upon him, and declare that Vermont is indebted for the 
preservation of the record of her worth and honor, which 
shall secure her love in the hearts of countless generations 
to come, to no man more than to Horace Bailey. 

He possessed to an unusual degree the rare virtue of 
candor. He was a frank, out-spoken man. He told the 
truth and he told the whole truth. It takes a big man to 
do that without offense. Most of us are not quick enough; 
we let the moment for outspoken words pass by and render 
our cowardly assent. But he was quick, and courage was 
a habit with him, and he was so honest that words which 
would have given offense coming from a lesser man were 
received in good part. 

He had the Vermonter's keen penetration to the in- 
wardness of things and the inwardness of men. He de- 
tected hypocrisy invariably. He knew a liar when he 
heard him, and he knew the kind of a liar that ought to 



72 Horace Ward Bailey 

have a strong adjective precede the characteriza- 
tion. 

His humor was of the sharp, keen, racy sort native to 
our hills. It was always an entertainment to be with him, 
and no five minutes passed without a good laugh. He 
always delighted an audience with his wit and drollery 
and no meeting was dull when he was one of the 
speakers. 

He was a man of courage. He had convictions and 
he expressed them. The last charge anybody could pre- 
sent against him was that of being a trimmer. He never 
tried to stand on both sides of a fence at the same time, 
whether in the Legislature or anywhere else, and if there 
was anything he despised, it was a man who did not dare 
to take a stand. 

He was loyal through and through. What a noble, 
high-minded partisan he was! There was no town like 
Newbury; there was no state like Vermont. He was loyal 
to our institutions and he felt that there was something 
sacred about them. He had none of the expert's aloofness, 
which measures an institution merely by its money and 
its buildings, and takes no account of the men who love it 
and the life which it enshrines. 

He was a good loser — I know no other expression 
which tells the quality quite so well. Misfortune found 
him more than once, but it never defeated him. The 
direst adversity did not even scratch his cheer. Hundreds 
of us wrote to console him last summer, and received in 
reply the bravest and most cheerful letters we have in all 
our files. 

But he was also a great winner. My friends, what a 
great victory is here! He passed away with the affection 



The Last Year 73 

and honor of the whole state. Hundreds are saying they 
never had a better friend. He was in truth 

"One who never turned his back but marched 

breast forward, 
Never doubted clouds would break. " 

His works will long follow him. He fought a good, 
hard fight, plucky to the last, and went to his God as he 
lived before Him, not cringing in shallow reverence, but 
head erect, unashamed to be a man and to talk and act like 
a man, to take his place with those who for that they 
served the world shall have the privilege of serving God 
forever. May God bless the memory of good, honest, 
whole-souled Horace Bailey! 



74 Horace Ward Bailey 



CHAPTER VII. 
VERMONTIANA. 

This chapter contains numerous articles of a some- 
what miscellaneous character, yet all relating to Vermont 
men and things. Two of the articles, "Vermont's Two 
Military Roads" and "The Old State House at Rutland" 
were taken from original manuscripts in one of his volumes 
of bound pamphlets and the compilers have not discovered 
that they have ever been in print before. 

Two Mathematical Prodigies. 

Mr. Bailey contributed to the Montpelier Journal in 
December, 1909, the following short sketch of two Vermont 
mathematicians : 

Of Vermont's great scholars, mathematicians, and 
prodigies but little has been said or written. Permit me 
to call your attention to two "mathematical prodigies" 
born in Vermont. 

Zerah Colburn was born in Cabot, Vt., September 
1, 1804, and died at Norwich, Vt., March 2, 1839. He 
published a memoir in 1833 of 200 pages which contains 
an account of his wonderful mathematical powers, of his 
travels abroad, etc. This book, having been many years 
out of print, is somewhat rare. 

The second mathematical prodigy was Truman H. 
Safford, Jr., who was born in Royalton, Vt., January 6, 
1836, and died at Newark, N. J., June 13, 1901. At ten 
years of age Safford published a "Youth's Almanac," 



i Vermontiana 75 

which was printed at Bradford, Vt., in 1846. Almanacs 
were probably not considered of much value at that time 
and were not carefully preserved and handed down from 
generation to generation. At any rate so few copies have 
been preserved of this particular Safford Almanac that it 
is now among Vermont's rarest bibliography. The Alma- 
nac contains an appendix with a sketch of young Safford's 
life and wonderful mathematical performances, written by 
Robert McK. Ormsby, a lawyer and author of some note 
living at Bradford, Vt. 

I feel warranted in saying that a greater mathematical 
prodigy, at ten years of age, never lived than Truman 
Henry Safford, Jr. He was graduated from Harvard in 
the class of 1854, at the age of 18, and lived a scholarly 
and useful life. 

Mr. Bailey's letter attracted the attention of Miss 
Jane Colburn of Concord, N. H., and under date of Feb- 
ruary 7, 1910, she wrote him concerning her father and 
some of his wonderful mathematical achievements. Copi- 
ous extracts of her letter concerning this Vermont mathe- 
matician are herewith reproduced: 

As I have been asked to write something about my 
father, Zerah Colburn, who was noted as a mathematical 
prodigy, I will write a short sketch of his life, since he died 
so many years ago the younger people do not know much 
about him. Many of them, as well as the older ones, 
think of him as the author of Colburn's arithmetic, which 
he was not, but Warren Colburn, owing the world a great 
spite, brought that into being. Zerah Colburn was born 
in Cabot, Vt., September 1, 1804. When about six years 
of age, while playing on the floor one day, he began to re- 
peat what his father thought parts of the multiplication 



76 Horace Waed Bailey 

table, he had learned from the older children, as he could 
not read, and of course did not know anything of figures, 
not even the names of them. When he began to question 
him he found he could go through the table all right. 
Then he asked the product of 13x97, to which 1261 was 
instantly given. Questions in multiplication of two or 
three places of figures were answered with much greater 
rapidity than they could be solved on paper; also questions 
involving an application of this rule, as in reduction, and 
the rule of three, seemed to be perfectly adapted to his 
mind. The extraction of the roots of exact squares and 
cubes was done with very little effort and what has been 
considered by the mathematicians of Europe an operation 
for which no rule existed, namely finding the factors of 
numbers, was performed by him, and in course of time he 
was able to point out his method of obtaining them. Ques- 
tions in addition, subtraction and division were done with 
less facility, on account of the complicated and continuous 
effort of the memory. Among questions asked was one 
by the Duke of Cambridge, after he was taken by his 
father to England: Give the number of seconds since 
the Christian Era, 1813 years, 7 months and 27 days. 
The answer was given 57,234,384,000. He then raised 
the number 8 to the sixteenth power, and gave the answer 
correctly in the last result, namely 281,474,976,656. He 
was then tried as to numbers consisting of one figure, all 
of which he raised as high as the tenth power, with so 
much facility, that the person appointed to take down the 
results was obliged to ask him not to be too rapid. He 
was then asked to give the square root of 106,929 and before 
the number could be written down gave 327. Another 
question, namely the factors which will produce the number 



Vermontiana 77 

247,483, which he did by naming 941 and 263, the only 
numbers which will do it. These with so many others with 
many more figures I will not name them when only nine 
years of age. 

During the time of Zerah's exhibitions his education 
was of course neglected, but after leaving Cabot he learned 
to read, and write, but that was all. As many have wished 
to know in regard to his facility in acquiring knowledge 
from books, when a boy, I will say that he delighted in 
reading as a pastime. In studies to which he afterward 
gave his attention, he manifested no uncommon skill or 
quickness, though his progress was always respectable. 
The acquirement of languages was easy and pleasant. 
Arithmetic in books he found entertaining; geometry plain 
but dull. Two years passed before he made any disclosure 
of his methods of calculation. The first was his method 
of extracting the square and cube roots. This, as well as 
other operations, was performed without any premedita- 
tion. Indeed everything in regard to his calculations 
was performed without any previous effort except such as 
suggested itself on the spur of the moment. The use of 
the term root was explained to him by Prof. Adams of 
Dartmouth. His rule for extracting the square root was 
as follows: First, what number squared will give a sum 
ending with the two last figures of the given square; and 
what number squared will come nearest under the first 
figure in the given square when it consists of five places. 
If there are six figures in the proposed sum, the nearest 
square under the two first figures must be sought, which 
figures combined will give the answer. The cube root is 
found by the application of the same principle. But I 
must not go on as it would take many pages to give all the 



78 Horace Ward Bailey 

problems given in his life written more than seventy years 
ago. 

Tribute to Mr. Fijield. 

Hon. B. F. Fifield of Montpelier having written a 
letter concerning Morrill and Edmunds, Mr. Bailey paid 
a distinguished tribute to the Montpelier gentleman in 
the following communication which appeared in the Mont- 
pelier Journal of May 3, 1910: 

To the Editor of the Journal: — 

In printing Mr. Fifield's reminiscences of Senators 
Morrill and Edmunds you gave your readers one of the 
most delightful bits of reading that has appeared in Vermont 
in many a day. Being at the Morrill centennial exercises 
I watched Mr. Fifield's classic face, worthy of a Greek 
god, as he listened intently to President Buckham's mas- 
terly analysis of the dead Senator's career. I tried to 
imagine what his own career would have been had not 
"opportunity" been twice swerved from its course. First, 
when the Vermont delegation in Congress unanimously 
agreed upon his name as a successor to Judge Smalley upon 
the Federal bench. William M. Evarts, Secretary of 
State and Judge Devens of Massachusetts, Attorney Gen- 
eral in President Hayes' Cabinet knew Vermont well and 
knew Mr. Fifield's connection with railroad interests in 
Vermont and persuaded the President to name Judge 
Wheeler. 

But they were utterly mistaken in the man. Had Mr. 
Fifield been appointed no favors would have been shown 
to any one. His high sense of justice and honor was 
effectively shown in 1880 when the Republicans of Mont- 
pelier wanted to elect him to the Legislature and he con- 
sented but first resigned the highly honorable and lucrative 



Vermontiana 79 

office of District Attorney for the State, which he then 
held. At this time United States officials were elected to 
the Legislature at every session and took their seats with- 
out thought of opposition. But Mr. Fifield's keen and 
fastidious sense of obedience to the constitution of his 
State would not allow him to follow in unworthy footsteps. 
Had he been named as judge the same lofty sense of right 
would have dictated his every action. Under proper 
circumstances he might have become a second Draco or 
Justinian. 

He always detested and despised a lobbyist; no one 
ever saw him hovering around the hotels and Capitol in 
this degrading occupation. 

His second "opportunity" came when he was ap- 
pointed to be Senator Morrill's successor. Had he ac- 
cepted this high honor he could not have been swept away 
as was Judge Ross, either by the expenditure of a fortune 
on the one hand or by the charms of personal friendship on 
the other; he would have been in the National Senate to- 
day with the reputation of Edmunds and Morrill com- 
bined. 

But he declined the appointment because he had an 
invaUd wife whom he could not take to Washington. 

One may search all the annals of knight-errancy in 
vain for another such act of self-abnegation; such adher- 
ence to duty; such chivalric and exquisite devotion. 

A Tribute to Hon. George N. Dale. 

{In the Essex County Herald of February 6, 1903). 

Gone from among us a friend. He was a Vermonter 
tried and true in all the walks of life. His generation 
never produced a truer citizen, a man in whose large throb- 



80 Horace Ward Bailey 

bing heart beat more pulses for humanity's sake. George 
N. Dale was a man who never knew or realized his own 
mental power, nor the strength of his native ability. Versed 
in the law, his fellow craftsmen regarded him as a tower of 
strength; his clients looked upon him as the good shep- 
herd, true to his cause, strong with the court and jury, and 
withal a pilot who could steer them clear of shoals and 
breakers, and above all a man to be trusted. Whether 
in the home circle or broader fields his stately dignity was 
fascinating. A man of literary attainments, his knowledge 
of books was not bounded by the horizon of his profession. 
No man in this generation has been called from Vermont's 
arena of activity of whom it can be said with more truth, 
"We are the better for having known and associated with 
him." Contact with George N. Dale increased and 
strengthened the moral fibers of humanity. Unostenta- 
tious, he hated pretension and hypocrisy. His channel 
of inner life ran deep and still, a personification of power, 
honesty and simplicity. Born in Waitsfield in 1834, dis- 
tinctively a Vermonter in all the vicissitudes of a long and 
useful career, his early education was somewhat restricted, 
but nature supplied all deficiency, and turned out a full- 
fledged and well-rounded manly man. What a refuge for 
those in trouble! Gov. Dale was approachable; he could 
always stop to give a wayfarer a lift, or pour oil from a 
cruse never drained to its dregs. A legislator, the peer of 
the ablest; a man whose keen intellect grasped conditions 
and whose foresight and knowledge of current events, to- 
gether with his caution, made him a legislative leader for 
many sessions in Montpelier. Life's battle was well 
fought; one of Vermont's most distinguished citizens and 
statesmen has gone to his long home. The memory of 



Vermontiana 81 

him will abide as a sweet and blessed benediction for many 
a daj'. 

TRiBtJTE TO Senator Morrill. 

The Montpelier Journal of April 14, 1910, contameu 
a special edition in commemoration of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the birth of Hon. Justin S. Morrill. Be- 
sides an exhaustive review of the Senator's life and public 
career there were tributes from public men. Mr. Bailey's 
tribute here follows: 

To the vforld Justin S. Morrill is and will always be 
known as the veteran legislator, the constructive lawmaker, 
whose wisdom is imperishably written into our Federal 
Statutes, where it will stand like a towering monument as 
long as Government shall last. 

It would take volumes to contain a record of all that 
he accomplished for the uplift of the nation, and the con- 
struction and strengthening of her bulwarks during the 
years of a long, vigorous and diligent life. 

I leave to others the narration of events and items 
which m^ake up the record of Mr. Morrill's public career. 
To me the life of Mr. Morrill, whose achievements have 
now passed into history, become a star of the first magni- 
tude, because he was my ideal of a manly man. 

He was void of an experience, yea practice, prevalent 
am.ong some great men of bujdng his seat in high places, 
for a cash consideration, or by the pohtical intrigue of 
promises to be fulfilled, or oftener ignored. 

Nothing short of a most manly man could have 
rounded out almost a half century in an elective office 
without personal effort, or even anxiety. Such a man was 
Mr. Morrill, and such vras the record of his Congressional 
life. He was not a member of any political stock exchange. 

(6) 



82 Horace Ward Baii>ey 

In the great arena of public life he was a peer among 
noblemen, yet entirely void of the glitter and ostentation 
which follows in the wake of exalted position, or precedes 
the royal march with blare of drum and j5fe; naught but 
ideal manhood, raised to the superlative degree, can with- 
stand such a pressure of the conventionalities. 

To have come out of such a long public life unblem- 
ished by a vast multitude of active evil forces is not evid- 
ence of greatness as a lawmaker, but rather of the man. 

Men who are the product of the highways and byways, 
having reached the zenith of renown unaided bj^ the ad- 
vantages of an early liberal education, and the functions 
of public society, sometimes forget, but never such a lapse 
with Mr. Morrill! The unpolished boy from Orange 
county, fragrant with the balsam and pine of its wooded 
hills, or laden with the dust of its fertile valleys, was as 
kindly received and courteously entertained in the lobbies 
and committee rooms of the United States Senate as though 
he was to the manor born. 

There was in him a quality of heart which shone out 
through his countenance, touching every fiber of his phy- 
sique, that made one feel that he was in the presence of a 
real true man. 

Sometimes when men have acquired fame and fortune 
they turn their backs on the scenes of childhood and their 
friendships. Not so with Mr. Morrill. The addition 
of years, the increase of important responsibilities, his 
place in the circle of a great nation's great men, — these 
never dimmed his vision of the Morrill home among the 
Strafford hills, nor weakened the friendships for the home- 
folk of his early Vermont days. 

How appropriate that after "Hfe's fitful dream" his 



Vermontiana 83 

mortal remains should repose in the midst of the scenes he 
loved so well! 

He lacked the vindictive qualities which make some 
great men small, dangerous and hated; bitter sarcasm, 
withering irony and invective were not the instruments 
with which he won his forensic battles and v/rote the laws 
into our statute books. But rather through his veins 
there ran currents of kindness and benevolence, strongly 
diked by walls of old-fashioned New England common 
sense and inherent honesty. 

Dry den says, "The best evidence of character is a 
man's whole life." Measured by this standard Mr. Mor- 
rill's whole life is the best evidence of his character, because 
it is an inspiration to better thought, to better living, to the 
higher ideals in human character, and a splendid example 
of what diligence and an honest purpose in life will accom- 
phsh. 

To say of any man that he was the kind of a man to 
inspire boundless confidence in mankind is a royal eulogy. 
Such a man was Justin Smith Morrill, late Senator of the 
United States from Vermont. 

How TO Boom Vermont. 

The St. Johnsbury Republican published a symposium 
in its issue of March 9, 1910, from prominent Vermonters 
on the general topic "Things the Legislature Could Do 
to Boom the State." Mr. Bailey's contribution was as 
follows : 

First, Pass a woman's suffrage bill. There is not a 
single reason given why a male person should have the right 
of suffrage, which does not apply with equal force to a female 
person. 



84 Horace Ward Bailey 

Second, Abolish capital punishment. It is a relic of 
the Mosaic law and has no place in the economy of a day 
and generation supposed to be operating under the Nazarene 
dispensation. 

Third, Adopt all the proposals for amending the 
Constitution, that were recently recommended by the 
Commission chosen for that purpose. 

Fourth, Take another step and further amend the 
Constitution so that the representation in the lower branch 
of the Legislature may be reduced from thirty to fifty per 
cent; then the volume of their acts and resolves may be re- 
duced in a like ratio. 

All these things may not, probably will not, arrive in 
mj^ day, but they are on the way; clear the track; they will 
arrive. 

These things enacted will push Vermont up on to a 
higher plane. We ought not to stop short of making our 
iDcloved Vermont the ideal in the sisterhood of states. 

The Wells Goodwin Resolution. 
From the Montpelier Daily Journal of November 9, 1894: — 

In the Senate this afternoon Senator Bailey of New- 
bury offered the following resolution: 

Whereas, Wells Goodwin of Newbury, Orange county, 
Vermont, did on Friday, the ninth of November, 1894, 
attain and pass his one hundredth birthday; and whereas, 
the said Wells Goodwin did on the eleventh day of February, 
1813, enlist for 18 months in the Eleventh United States 
Infantrj^, of which Col. Moody Bedell was commander, 
and did serve as a private in said regiment until wounded, 
July 25, 1814, at the battle of Niagara, and so far as known 



Vermontiana 85 

is the only person now living within the state who served 
in the war of 1812; 

Therefore, Be it resolved, by the Senate and House 
of Representatives that as a tribute of respect to this 
venerable man's memory, and for the further purpose of 
making these facts a matter of permanent record in the 
annals of the state, the Secretary of State is hereby directed 
to make these resolutions a part of the record of the pro- 
ceedings of the General Assembly of 1894, and to transmit, 
by mail, to the said Wells Goodwin a copy of the same. 

In supporting the resolution Senator Bailey said: 

Mr. President, Mr. Wells Goodwin of Newbury, a 
native Vermonter, has passed the centurj^ milestone of 
human life. As a lad of five years he remembers the death 
and burial of George Washington. In 1816 Wells Good- 
win voted for James Monroe, fifth president of the United 
States, and has voted at every presidential election since. 
This man's life reaches almost back to the date of Vermont's 
admission to the Union. He was a child during the last 
years of Vermont's first governor, Thomas Chittenden. 
He was 19 years old when Moses Robinson, our second 
governor, died. Governors Paine, Eaton, Fletcher, Hall, 
Smith, Paul Dillingham, Page, Converse, Washburn, Peck, 
and Horace Fairbanks, were born, came upon the stage, 
made honorable and patriotic historj^ for our common- 
wealth, and long since have passed to the silent majority, 
and all during this one man's lifetime. On the 18th day 
of June, 1812, war was declared against Great Britain by 
the Congress of the United States. Soon after Wells Good- 
win joined the American forces under General Winfield 
Scott. So far as can be ascertained from the war records 



86 Horace Ward Bailey 

the said Wells Goodwin is now the only survivor of the 
war of 1812 living in Vermont. Therefore, in commemora- 
tion of this fact, Mr. President and Senators, I hope the 
resolution will pass. 

Journalism Fifty Years Ago. 

It was Mr. Bailey's good fortune to find in his re- 
searches a copy of the St. Johnsbury Caledonian published 
just at the opening of the war. He extracted considerable 
war news from this paper for one of his newspaper letters 
and prefaced his excerpts with the following tribute to a 
former distinguished Vermont journalist: 

There can be little doubt but what newspaper making, 
and editorial writing of 50 years ago, was a long ways from 
a lost art, nor can it be said that they were in a crude stage. 
The fact is, Mr. Editor, I believe the 50 years ago copy of 
the Caledonian, May 31, 1861, is as good a paper in every 
way as any copy of the Caledonian that I have seen in the 
last 10 years, and I have seen nearly all of them. I am 
not discussing printing presses, modern appliances and the 
terrific speed with which newspaper work is now done, but 
rather the subject matter, news general and local, etc. 

I am submitting some of the items in the old Cale- 
donian, all relating to the war, as a sample of the good use 
of English, of paragraphing, and of patriotism. This old 
Caledonian contains a news item relating to the death of 
Col. Ellsworth which is worth reprinting for its historical 
value. Many boys were named for Elmer Ellsworth in the 
early sixties. The editorial on the "Assassination of Col. 
Ellsworth" probably written by the editor, the late C. M. 
Stone, is as clear cut, historical and patriotic as present 
day editorials. You will not think for a moment, Mr. 



Vermontiana , 87 

Editor, that the writer has in mind the disparaging o^ 
modern newspapers and journalism, nor an unfavorable 
criticism of modern editors, for thej^ keep apace, and fre- 
quently ahead, of the procession, and if I mistake not are 
leaders in modern thinking and aggressors in good govern- 
ment. But in this day and generation when so much is 
said about the ''Greater Vermont," and the "New Ver- 
mont," and what not, it is worth while to scan doings a 
half century old. My search among old newspaper files, 
convinces me that the men and things of 50 years ago do 
not fade when compared with today, and I offer these 
clippings from the Caledonian of May 31, 1861, as partial 
evidence of my assertions. 

Vermont's Two Military Roads. 

The following article appears in Volume 102 of Mr. 
Bailey's collection of Vermont Pamphlets with the following 
foreword : 

Vermont enjoys the distinction of having had two 
military highways, built entirely under the strenuous exi- 
gency of war and conquest. But neither was built by Ver- 
mont authority, the first having been built by the Crown, 
and the other by the Colonial Government. 

The first military road was built in 1759-60, connecting 
the frontier military post No. 4 (now Charlestown, N. H.) 
in the Connecticut valley with Crown Point, N. Y., on Lake 
Champlain. The American forces were under Gen. Am- 
herst and he detailed Capt. John Stark (the hero of Ben- 
nington) with a company of 200 men to build the road 
from Crow^l Point southeasterly to Otter Creek. The 
road started from Chimney Point in the town of Addison, 
Vt., opposite Crown Point, passing through Bridport, Shore- 



88 Horace Ward Bailey 

ham, Whiting, Sudbury, Brandon, Pittsford, Proctor to 
Rutland. 

On the highway leading from the city of Rutland to 
West Rutland the road leading to Proctor branches off 
at Center Rutland, where a large granite watering trough 
is erected bearing the following inscription: 

DRINKING FOUNTAIN. 

To mark the OLD MILITARY ROAD from 

Charlestown, N. H., to Crown Point, N. Y. 1759-60 

Fort Ranger 
Stood on the opposite blufT, 1778, 

First Comm-ander, Capt. Gideon Brownson. 

Erected by Ann Story Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, June 14, 1903. 

The Connecticut river end of the road was built in 
1760 by Col. John Golf and his regiment of New Hamp- 
shire men. The road crossed the Connecticut river into 
the town of Springfield, Vt., about two miles north of 
No. 4, passing through Weathersfield, Cavendish, Ludlow, 
Shrewsbury, and through a corner of Clarendon into the 
Otter Creek valley; thence northerly through Rutland. 
There are no less than 16 markers on this route north from 
Rutland, and several from Rutland south. 

The second military road was built by the Continental 
authorities to shorten the distance between New England 
paid Canada. General Jacob Baylej'-, the patriarch of 
Newburj'- and the hero of Coos county, had charge of the 
northern division of the army and pointed out to General 
Washington the shorter route. 



Vermontiana 89 

March 26, 1776, Col. Thomas Johnson of Newbury, 
another Revohitionary patriot, was detailed with several 
sturdy men to blaze out the road. They were followed 
by Surveyor General Whitelaw, of Ryegate, Vt., who 
laid out the road. He, in turn, was followed by General 
Bayley with a large number of men building the road 
through the woods to a point six miles beyond Peacham. 
On account of a rum_or that the enemy was approaching, 
the road was abandoned for a while. 

The work of completing the road was taken up by 
Col. Moses Hazen in the summer of 1779. The work 
was carried on by Col. Bedell's regiment with headquarters 
at Peacham, much the larger portion of the road being 
built by Col. Hazen. This road has been known in history 
as the Hazen Military Road, completely ignoring in its 
title General Bayley, the instigator and first projector of 

the road. 

In August 1912 the town of Newbury will celebrate 
the 150th anniversary of its settlement, erecting several 
markers on historic spots. One of these markers will be 
placed on the spot where this military road was started 
in the village of Wells River, at which time the road will 
be re-christened as the Bayley-Hazen Military Road, 
giving to General Bayley the honor which rightfully be- 
longs to him in history. This road starts from the north- 
easterly part of Newbury (in Wells River village), passing 
through Ryegate, Barnet, Peacham, Cabot, Walden, 
Hardwick, Greensboro, Craftsbury, Albany, Lowell, termi- 
nating in the town of Westfield at a place called 
Hazen's Notch, where a marker was dedicated August 

21, 1903. 

On October 13, 1906, a granite monument eight feet 



90 Horace AVard Bailey 

high was dedicated at Hardwick Street, bearing the follow- 
ing inscription: 

/ HAZEN ROAD 

Built from Peacham to Westfield, A. D., 1779, by Gen. 
Hazen, as a Military Road. 

Erected A. D. 1896 by Hazen Road Pomona Grange. 

Had this road been completed through to St. Johns, 
Canada, as originally planned, the distance from Boston 
to that point would have been shortened b}^ 73 miles over 
the Crown Point road and Lake Champlain. 

After peace was declared both of these roads leading 
through the wilderness of Vermont became important 
helpers to the early settlers of the region through which 
they passed, and these roads are traceable at the present 
day for a considerable part of their entire length. They 
were never used much for military purposes. 

Old State House, Rutland, Vt. 

The following brief sketch appears in Vol. 102 of Mr. 
Bailey's collection of Vermont Pamphlets: 

In the early days, and down to 1808, when the Legis- 
lature became permanently housed at Montpelier, it held 
its sessions in the more populous towns in the State. The 
Legislature held its session in Rutland, in what is locally 
'known as the Old State House, in the years 1784, 1786, 
1792, 1794, 1796, 1797 and 1804. 

Until 1912 the Old State House stood upon the same 
plot of land with but few if any changes in its exterior. 
There is no record as to the time it was built, but without 
doubt it was the oldest building in that section of the 
state. 



Vermontiana 91 

County courts were held in this building from 1784 
to 1793. It was here that the first United States District 
Court, for the District of Vermont, was held in 1791 with 
that celebrated Vermont jurist, Nathaniel Chipman, as 
presiding judge. It is said that this building was built 
by voluntary subscriptions, which would indicate that it 
was designed solely for public purposes. 

In the spring of 1912 the Old State House and site 
were purchased by Dr. A. H. Bellerose, who took down the 
old building and during the summer built a fine residence. 

A Notable Legislative Reunion. 

On October 2 and 3, 1895, a legislative reunion was held 
in Montpelier which all who attended will never forget. 
It was perhaps the most notable of its kind ever held and 
at the banquet which closed the proceedings there were 
among the speakers the most prominent men in our public 
affairs. Gen. Hugh Henry marshalled the members of 
the association from the State House to the Golden Fleece. 
The venerable Senator Morrill came down the aisle with 
Gen. Stephen Thomas, the latter receiving three cheers 
as he advanced toward his seat. The after dinner speakers 
included Gov. Woodbury, ex~Gov. Josiah Grout, ex-Gov. 
Pingree, Judge James L. Martin, Senator Redfield Proctor, 
Senator Morrill, Judge H. H. Powers, Judge L. H. Thomp- 
son, Gen. J. J. Este}^, and Judge Walter P. Smith of St. 
Johnsbury. At the mock session Hon. George M. Powers, 
secretary of the Senate, read the journal of the Senate. 
Com.menting on this Mr. Bailey pays the following de- 
serving tribute to our present Chief Justice: 

It was a remarkable document. If it could be printed 
I would rather read it than to read any book in the Old 
Testament, including several chapters from Bill Nye. 
George M. Powers has attained the dignity of an old 



92 Horace Ward Bailey 

rounder; he is, however, a healthy boj^, and you will hear 
from him before the new century casts off its swaddling 
clothes, and perhaps sooner. Orange county was well 
represented. To be able to claim Justin S. Morrill and 
Gen. Stephen Thomas as her sons is glory enough. 

Two Vermont Monuments. 

In connection with a letter in the Rutland Evening 
News of March 31, 1913, correcting some published state- 
ments about the Mormon monument at Sharon, Mr, 
Bailey briefly describes two of the largest monuments in 
the state as follows: 

The honor of the largest and most imposing individual 
monuments in Vermont, and perhaps in New England, 
belong to Joseph Smith and Ethan Allen. A brief descrip- 
tion of these monuments is submitted for their historical 
and educational value. 

The Smith monument in Sharon, erected on the site 
of the birthplace (not the burial place) of Joseph Smith, 
was dedicated on December 23, 1905, the 100th anniver- 
sary of his birth. 

The monument consists of five pieces, two bases, die, 
cap and spire, the whole rising to a height of 50 feet and 
10 inches, weighing 100 tons. The lower base is ten feet 
square, the second base nine feet square, while above the 
die rises the shaft which is 38 and one-half feet in height. 
This is significant as it marks the exact age of Joseph 
Smith, 38 years and six months. The monument is of 
Barre granite, and the spire is claimed to be the largest 
single piece of polished granite in the world. 

The Ethan Allen monument stands over his grave in 
the Green Mountain cemetery at Burlington. This was 



Vermontiana 93 

provided for by the Legislature of 1857, which appropriated 
$2000. 

It is made of Barre granite, the base of the pedestal 
being eight feet square on the ground, consisting of two 
steps of granite on which rests a die of granite six feet 
square, in the four faces of which are set panels of white 
marble bearing the inscription. 

Above the pedestal rises a Tuscan shaft of granite 
four feet six inches in diameter and 42 feet high. Probably 
this shaft is in sections. Upon its capital on a base bearing 
the word "Ticonderoga" stands a heroic statue of Ethan 
Allen, eight feet four inches high, designed by Peter Steph- 
enson, and carved in Italy of the choicest marble of that 
country. 

This statue was paid for by private subscription, and 
unveiled with dedicatory exercises by the state, July 4, 
1873, being one of the few great celebrations in the history 
of Vermont. The oration was dehvered by Hon. Lucius 
E. Chittenden, a great grandson of Vermont's first gov- 
ernor, Thomas Chittenden. The j^roceedings have been 
preserved in pamphlet form, which, with the Chittenden 
oration, make a historical document of great value. 

The writer is of the opinion that there was no celebra- 
tion at the completion of the monument proper, because 
it was anticipated to place the statue very soon afterwards, 
but the work was delayed some years for lack of funds. 

Mr. Williams and His Rural Magazine 

In the Burhngton Free Press of March 2, 1911, there 
appeared a comprehensive review of the two volumes of 
the Rural Magazine, published monthly during the years 
1795 and 1796 bv Rev. Samuel Williams. These rare 



94 Horace Ward Bailey 

books are now in the Billings Library at Burlington and 
Mr. Bailey's article throws so many interesting sidelights 
upon our early history that much of it is here given. 

The Rural Magazine was the first of its kind in Ver- 
mont, and lived but two years. The next attempt was 
made at Middlebury and was, like its predecessor, short- 
lived. The Middlebury Magazine, which was published 
during the first decade of Middlebury College, is now 
principally remembered on account of its severe and un- 
just attack on the Rev. Daniel Saunders, first president 
of the University of Vermont, on account of his "Indian 
Wars" book, Avhich would make an interesting chapter by 
itself. 



Volume one contains an interesting historical and 
geological description of the "Great Falls in the Connecti- 
cut river," meaning Bellows Falls, but probably before the 
advent of Mr. Bellows. 

There is also a very interesting article by Daniel Jones, 
Esq., of Hinsdale, substantiating the theory that "West 
River Mountain," the mountain in New Hampshire op- 
posite Brattleboro, was once an active volcano. To the 
writer it is a matter of news that we, here in Vermont, live 
near a defunct volcano which comes this side of tradition 
and historical rumor. A few lines of the article are given 
to show the general trend. "I am inclined to think these 
explosions are not so frequent as formerly, even fifty years 
ago; for I am told by ancient people of veracity, who 
formerly dwelt at Fort Dummer (opposite the mountain), 
that there were frequently explosions and that fire and 
smoke were emitted." 



Vermontiana 95 

Volume one also contains an account of two very in- 
teresting ''Church maulings." The first occurred at the 
east parish in Westminster, the subject being Mrs. Bethiah 
Holton, a member who adopted Universalism. 

The other ecclesiastical proceedings are against the 
Rev. Matthias Casier, pastor of the church at Castleton. 
A bill of complaint numbering 15 specific items was 
brought against the minister, and a council called to 
settle the trouble. The charges were brought for viola- 
tion of doctrine, discipline and manners. Two of the 
charges will suffice for samples. Item 5. "That the 
said pastor holds that no infants are guilty of actual trans- 
gression before they are born into the world." Item 11. 
"That he calls all the congregations (except the church) 
infidels." The well-known Rev. Job Swift was moderator 
of the Council. The Council took up the charges item by 
item and reported on them, the report being strongly in 
favor of the defendant pastor, with some gentle and loving 
rebukes thrown in. It also lays out a program for the 
town, the people and the church. It recommends a sepa- 
ration if harmony does not obtain. This is the most com- 
plete report of a proceeding of this kind, a century ago, that 
I have ever seen and is a valuable scrap of ecclesiastical 
history and custom. 

The most complete account that the writer has seen 
is given of the selection of Col. John A. Graham of Rutland 
for a mission to England, by the Episcopal church of Ver- 
mont to secure the consecration of Rev. Samuel Peters 
as Bishop. The account gives in detail the arguments 
and correspondence between Col. Graham and the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, whose function it yvas to consecrate 
the newly-chosen Vermont bishop. The archbishop de- 



96 Horace Ward Bailey 

clined to accede to the request of the Episcopacy of Ver- 
mont, and this brought about this controversy and corres- 
pondence. It was this same Col. Graham who pubhshed 
a voluroe of his letters written from various places in Ver- 
mont, in London in 1797. This book of 186 pages has 
sometimes erroneously been called ''Graham's History of 
Vermont." 

A very smoothly written and somewhat strange poli- 
tical letter is pubhshed, written by Daniel Buck, dated at 
Norwich, Vt., November 30, 1796, and addressed to "The 
Freemen of the Eastern District of Vermont." The sub- 
ject matter is Mr. Buck's election to Congress. The 
strange and unusual feature about it is that Mr. Buck 
didn't want the office, and debated some time in his own 
mind whether he v/ould accept or not. Another strange 
and unusual thing is embodied in these words: 

If upon candid inquiry and fair investigation you 
find me designedly to deviate from my avowed principles, 
then inflict upon me your tortures of public censure, ac- 
companied with newspaper invectives. 

Had Mr. Buck lived in our daj^, holding public office, 
he would know that no invitation would need to be issued 
to constituents or newspapers to administer criticisms 
and cuffings. 

Mr. Bailey's article closes with a biographical sketch 
of the man who was pastor of the First Parish Church in 
Rutland from 1789-95; wrote a history of Vermont in two 
editions; was the founder and first editor of the Rutland 
Herald, and while representing Rutland in the legislature 
was a most aggressive advocate of having the University 
of Vermont located at Rutland instead of Burlington. 
In the vote in the legislature of 1791 Burhngton received 
89 votes, Rutland 24, Montpelier and Williamstown 5 each, 



Vermontiana 97 

Danville, Castleton and Berlin one each. Notwithstanding 
his defeat he afterwards moved to Burlington where he 
purchased and installed the University's first philosophical 
apparatus and delivered at this institution the first course 
of lectures. Later he returned to Rutland, where he died 
in 1817, and on his plain slab in the North Main street 
burying ground in that city is this inscription, "Embalmed 
among the memories of the just, thy memory shall live 
while worth has friends or virtue is admired." 

A New Orleans Bell in Morrisvillb. 

Mr. Bailey discovered in his wide reading that one of 
the bells captured by Gen. Butler in his New Orleans cam- 
paign was doing duty in a church in Morrisville, which 
elicited the following contribution to the Montpelier 
Journal in the fall of 1910: 

It may interest your readers to know that some of the 
bells that were captured by Gen. Butler at New Orleans 
are still in existence. These bells with others, at the 
earnest solicitation of the Confederate General Beaure- 
gard, were contributed to be cast into cannon. 

After their capture by General Butler they were sent 
to Boston and sold at auction, bringing about $30,000. 
Through foundrymen and junk dealers most of them 
reached the melting pot, but three of them escaped that 
fate and today hang in New England churches, where they 
summon the worshippers upon the Sabbath. 

I am indebted to an Ayer, Mass., paper for informa- 
tion that one of the three Butler bells is located in Morris- 
ville, while the second is at Canton, Mass., and the third 
at Ayer, Mass. 

This incident of the civil war is interesting in a general 
way, showing the necessities of the Southern Confederacy 

(7) 



98 Horace Ward Bailey 

in asking a contribution of bells to recast into cannon, 
and that Gen. Butler should capture them, and that after- 
wards they should find their way into New England 
churches. It is more especially interesting, if true, that 
one of the bells is doing service in a thrifty Vermont town. 
Perhaps some Morrisville reader of the Journal can sub- 
stantiate or deny this assertion, giving a bill of particulars. 

And pasted in his scrap book is this letter from a 
Morrisville subscriber : 

Dear Mr. Bailey: 

Your letter caused me to ascend five steep sets of 
stairs, covered with the ordure of doves and the spiritual 
dust of many sanctified years, in order to get a close sight 
of that historic bell. I wish you had taken the trip with 
me. It is all true. 

This bell was taken from New Orleans by General 
Butler and was purchased by this church in Boston soon 
after the war. The casting bears the date 1859 and the 
bell itself is a M'^ork of art, being embellished profusely 
with cherubs, harps, lyres, and many other heavenly sym- 
bols of which you, I am sure, if not myself, will later have 
intimate knowledge. 



Public Addresses 99 

CHAPTER VIII. 

MR. BAILEY'S PUBLIC ADDRESSES. 

Mr. Bailey rarely spoke without notes, but his care- 
fully prepared addresses and his few extempore ones were 
always full of humor and philosophy. Some of the readers 
of these lines will recall with keen pleasure one of the 
annual gatherings of the New England Fat Men's Club at 
Hale's Tavern, when Mr. Bailey was the toastmaster, and 
his sparkhng wit on that festive occasion. And at the 
midsummer picnic at "The Belfry" in honor of Hon. 
Charles J. Bell, the Republican nominee for Governor, 
Mr. Bailey was the last speaker at this unique gathering and 
the only one who did not make a serious campaign speech. 
His humor on that occasion was in refreshing contrast to 
some of the campaign oratory that preceded him. His 
forte was as presiding officer, and whether at the March 
meeting or at some other public function, Mr. Bailey 
steered the affair with the skill of a pilot and added a few 
words whenever he thought the occasion or the speaker 
demanded any remarks from the leader. The addresses 
which are here given were all prepared for particular oc- 
casions and some of them involved much historical research 
in their preparation. 

Address at the Ladies' Aid Hall Dedication. 

The Ladies' Aid Hall in the village of West Newbury 
was dedicated on March 2, 1910, before an audience that 
tested the capacity of the little hall. Mr. Bailey presided 
in his usual urbane manner and delivered on this occasion 
the following address of welcome: 

Religion and science seem to have gone hand in hand 
in the early settlement of this section of Newbury. One 



100 Horace Ward Bailey 

needs only to read a chapter from our town history to be 
convinced that the west and south part of Newbury was 
at an early date thoroughly aroused to the importance of 
her religious, literary and social welfare. The larger 
dwelling houses and barns, and then the schoolhouses, 
were pressed into service for public gatherings. Finally 
in 1832 the Union Meeting House was organized. The 
result was the erection of the splendid old Union Meeting 
House just across the road, the subscriptions being payable 
one-third in money, one-third in neat stock and one-third 
in grain. I have often wished there might have been pre- 
served to us a record of the dedication of the old Union 
Meeting House. It must have been an event unparalleled 
in the history of this little community. They were, in 
fact, truly noble and patriotic citizens who entered into 
that undertaking. They were truly devout and self- 
sacrificing fathers and mothers who were willing to lay 
such a foundation for the well-being of posterity, such a 
legacy of godliness for future generations. The various 
stages of repair and remodelling through which yonder 
Meeting House has passed were notable events — all the 
fruit of generous hands and willing hearts. What a story 
of surpassing interest it would be if it could be written in 
detail! The actors in these early scenes have gone hence. 
They sleep neath yonder green sward. Their legacy to 
us is the present heroic generation — the legitimate off- 
spring of their heroic lives. 

How well I remember the last social, literary and re- 
ligious event of historic importance in this neighborhood, 
when 18 years ago on a Fourth of July we dedicated with 
song and speech and prayer the bell in yonder Meeting 
House; the gift of generous souls born of these hills, but 



Public Addresses 101 

gone to their eternal rest. How well I remember that day. 
As I look back through the years and call up in fond mem- 
ory the events as they followed one after the other, it be- 
comes a scene of rare beauty, of soul enchantment on which 
memory loves to dwell, for it was on that occasion that 
West Newbury with one accord opened her hospitable 
heart and extended her cordial hand to welcome back friend 
and neighbor to the old hearthstone. Over the whole 
scene hovered the fathers and mothers like a sweet benedic- 
tion of peace, but they, too, have been gathered to their 
fathers. 

But the scene changes. We who were then in the 
vigor of manhood are now travelling toward the "sun- 
set land," and the boj^s and girls of that period are now 
taking the brunt of life's battles. I assume that in the 
generation that preceded us the various matters of civil, 
social and domestic life were carried on in much the same 
manner as in our own day and generation. But be that 
as it may, we know now beyond question that the mothers, 
the wives and the daughters are the prime factors in the 
rehgious, social and moral life of the community. It is 
too much of an axiom to need elaboration, that where the 
hand of a father and son reach out to receive the emblems 
of the holy communion the hands of twice as many mothers 
and daughters are outstretched to receive the same sacred 
token. Should the time come, and in the grand march 
of progress I believe it is on the way, when the yoke of 
thralldom shall be lifted from the neck of the human race 
when man and woman stand on the same high plane before 
God and our country, then every moral question governed 
by the ballot box will receive a mighty impetus. In this 
generation the women of our country have been foremost 



102 Horace Ward Bailey 

in the progress of education, morality and philanthropy. 
They have formed Aid Societies that are auxiliaries to every 
church in our land. Nor has their work for the uplift of 
humanity stopped in the portals of the church militant. 
It has reached out into and traversed every avenue leading 
to a better life. The women of this community are no 
exception to this general rule. When I refer to the com- 
munity of West Newbury I am impelled to say that there 
is no spot of equal extent where Nature has dealt with a 
more lavish hand. If in God's universe there is such a 
spot then that place must be a veritable paradise. The 
more I look out from your vantage point to mountain top 
and hill, down through your valleys, over the forests, ponds 
and streams — all growing more familiar and beautiful as 
the years roll by — I affirm that I would be content to live 
alway if I might abide here. The wave of great wealth, 
as the world counts wealth, has never rolled this way, but its 
wealth consists in splendid homes, contented minds, and 
upright characters. 

Out of all these conditions and surroundings was 
evolved the Ladies' Aid Society of West Newbury, and as a 
result of their heroic endeavor and sacrifices we have been 
invited here tonight to assist in the pleasing exercises of 
dedicating this Ladies' Aid Hall. Friends, take a mental 
measure of this hall and its furnishings and then tell me 
if you think that the generous, public-spirited men, and the 
heroic, self-sacrificing women of West Newbury, all be- 
longed to a past generation. 

Neighbors, Friends and Visitors, the Ladies' Aid 
Society of West Newbury have conferred upon me the 
honor of speaking for them to express for them their sin- 
cere appreciation of your presence here tonight. They 



Public Addresses 103 

bid you a most cordial welcome. They earnestly hope 
you will take away from here to your own homes happy 
recollections of this event that will not soon fade from 
memory. May we not all hope that the historian of the 
future, looking backward through the years, may write 
of this institution a record that shall inspire and exalt 
lives that are yet unborn. 

"Let us then be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate; 
Still achieving, still pursuing. 

Learn to labor and to wait." 

At the 150th anniversary of the settlement of the town 
of Newbury, August 11-16, 1912, Mr. Bailey presided at 
the various public exercises, and to him, more than any 
other citizen, was due the inspiration of the celebration 
and the harmonious working out in every detail. During 
the week he gave five addresses, all historical and involving 
careful preparation, and also took one of the characters 
in an original play written for the occasion. The opening 
address was given in the Congregational church on Sunday 
afternoon, August 11, and here follows: 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

That I may bring to your attention as concisely as 
possible in the brief time allotted me, my view of our his- 
tory, I have separated all the years into three periods, the 
Prehistoric, the Nebulous, and the Historic. 

The Prehistoric, covering all the time prior to about 
300 years ago, the Nebulous covering the first half, and the 
Historic including the last half of the three hundred year 
period. 

If we desire to penetrate a prehistoric period we must 
rely on the testimony of accredited antiquarians and archae- 



104 . Horace Ward Bailey 

ologists and these are agreed that Vermont territory was 
never the home, the long abiding place, of any considerable 
Indian tribes. 

It is nevertheless true that proprietorship in and 
jurisdiction over our territory was claimed by the Abenakis 
of the East and the Iroquois of the West, and representa- 
tives of these tribes began memorializing our legislatures 
as early as 1798 seeking to establish titles in these lands 
and to recover payment for same. 

These visitations of the red man at stated intervals 
during legislative sessions at Montpelier, where they 
camped on the hill in the rear of the State house, was a 
source of interest, their camp attracting many visitors. 

The last claim made was by the Caughnah-wahgahs 
in 1880 when Roswell Farnham was governor, who strongly 
urged amicable and equitable adjustment of these claims. 
However all these memorials, visitations and negotia- 
tions failed to do more than draw a few hundred dollars 
from our treasury which were not considered payments 
for land, but rather as peace offerings which would inci- 
dentally aid the red brother in paying the expense of his 
pilgrimage. 

The North American Indian knew no treaty except 
by voice and sign, nor any law of conveyance except by 
conquest, nor any right of occupancy and ejectment ex- 
cept by brute force and strategy. 

Untutored savage though he was, he was the possessor 
of a human soul. He lived, he loved, he roamed, a child 
of nature untouched by the accursed vices of civilization, un- 
aware of the responsibility which follows in the wake of a 
higher order of intelligence and education, he must have 
lived close to nature, and dying returned to nature's God. 



Public Addresses 105 

If history was correctly written, when the white man 
came hither to conquer the land, to plant the home, to lift 
aloft the lamp of learning and establish the cross of Calvary, 
the red-man was not the first aggressor in evil ways. 

Located at our four cardinal points were great Indian 
tribes, leaving our territory neutral. Over these moun- 
tains, up and down these valleys, ran the Indian trail 
trodden in the night-time of a pre-historic age, by the 
roaming natives bent on conquest and plunder, making 
our territory somewhat uncomfortable for the home-making 
of even a North American Indian. 

It is, however, true that they amalgamated with the 
French at Swanton, maintaining a village many years, 
with a Catholic church and a few small industries. 

It is also true that Indian families came and squatted, 
perhaps for many seasons together, on our fertile meadows, 
crudely tilling the soil, that they spent other seasons in 
hunting and fishing, that they located in groups in conven- 
ient places for making arrow heads and domestic utensils, 
but nothing more. 

Benning Wentworth, Governor of the New Hampshire 
Colony, began granting township charters in this territory 
in 1749, and from thence until 1764 granted 126 charters, 
Newbury being the 79th in the list. Upon our erection 
into statehood Vermont began chartering towns by legis- 
lative enactment and to the year 1849 granted 105 
charters. 

Prior to 1761 not a settlement had been made under 
the Wentworth charters, in the Vermont territory, then 
called the New Hampshire Grants; in that year Bennington, 
Guilford, Halifax, Pawlet, Townshend and Newbury had 
their beginnings. Newbury's charter was granted May 



106 Horace Wakd Bailey 

18, 1763, being the only town in Vermont with a settlement 
well under way before its charter was granted. 

Johnson and Pettie came in the fall of 1761 remaining 
imtil the following June, feeding out the first crop of hay 
ever harvested on these broad fertile intervales. 

In February, 1762, came Samuel Sleeper and wife and 
with them came Glazier and Charles Wheeler, who were all 
housed in a hut which stood on the plot of land now occu- 
pied by Richard Doe's dwelling house. 

Thereafter came Thomas Chamberlain and wife. 

Richard Chamberlain and wife with seven of their 
thirteen children. 

Benoni Wright. 

John Haseltine, wife and two children. 

Simeon Stevens and wife. 

Jaasiel Harriman. 

Joshua Howard. 

Thomas Johnson and Jacob Kent. 

Therefore during the year 26 persons had arrived, the 
nucleus of this township. 

General Jacob Bayley, the father of this town, the 
most heroic patriot of this valley, the ancestor of no in- 
considerable portion of our present population, was back 
and forth, nursing into life this infant settlement. He 
came with his family a year or two later. 

Others followed and in a few years Newbury became 
one of the important towns in the state, being for some 
years the county seat, and twice the capital of the 
state. 

These were the fathers and mothers of this town, heroic 
pioneers in name and in very deed. 



Public Addresses 107 

"Toil had never cause to doubt you, 
Progress' path you helped to clear, 
But to-day forgets about you 
And the world rules on without you, 
SLEEP OLD PIONEER. 

"But our memory eyes have found you, 
And we hold you grandly dear. 
With no work-day woes to wound you. 
With the peace of God around you, 
SLEEP OLD PIONEER. 

"And ever in the realms of glory. 
Shine bright your starry claims, 
Angels have heard your story. 
And God knows all your names, 
SLEEP, SLEEP, OLD PIONEER!" 

During this week we celebrate the 150th anniversary 
of our settlement, dedicating a monument to General Jacob 
Bayley, the founder of this town, erecting markers on 
historic spots, memorializing the most important events in 
our history. 

It is not fitting that I should stand in your presence 
to extol the virtues of a generation of which we are a part 
and parcel, nor is it necessary to recite the important 
events in our 150 years of history, for that work has been 
concisely performed by Mr. Frederick P. Wells, our most 
highly respected town historian. 

The redman of this section had no archives, left no 
parchments, wrote no history and, so far as is known to 
archaeologist or historian, was just plain nomadic pre- 
historic Indian until the advent of the white man 



108 Horace Ward Bailey 

who began the weaving of legend and tradition into 
story. 

We call the second period which includes the first half 
of the last 300 years, Nebulous, because the history of this 
valley and this locality during that period is not always 
well authenticated, much of it especially in the early part 
being traditional and legendary. 

Not until about 300 years ago was the territory of the 
new world bordering on the Atlantic invaded by the Cau- 
casian race with intent to seize and settle. 

Then came representatives of the two great world 
powers, the French into the St. Lawrence valley, the Eng- 
lish to Massachusetts Bay, and from then on till about the 
time of the beginning of our own history these powers of 
the Old World became aggressive contestants for supremacy 
in the New World, continuing the struggle with intervals 
of peace, for a century and a half. 

During this period our territory still remained neutral, 
being the immediate pathway of New England and of New 
France in their advances and retreats in the great drama 
of conquest. 

The civil life of these contending nations is over- 
shadowed by the military, and our first authentic knowledge 
of this valley is from fragments of armies made into scouting 
parties, with their Indian allies, traversing this territory. 
So the dusky trail of the great silent prehistoric period now 
becomes the well beaten pathway of a new race, of a new 
life, awaking these valleys and mountain sides in the morn- 
ing of a new civilization. 

During this period this neutral territory was no more 
desirable for the home-making of a white man than the 
former period had been for the Indian, so that down to 



Public Addresses 109 

the year 1760 the only settlement made by the Caucasian 
in this territory were of a military nature convenient to 
forts and block-houses. These settlements were confined 
to towns bordering on the Connecticut river, in Windham 
county, and on the shores of Lake Champlain. We 
emerged into the full life of history 152 years ago, the be- 
ginning of our third period. 

The surrender of Montreal, September 8, 1760, marked 
the cessation of hostilities, the beginning of new conditions 
in this country, especially in this valley, and more especially 
in this very township of Newbury. 

Engaged in the conquest of Canada were Colonel, 
afterwards General, Jacob Bayley, Lieutenant Jacob Kent, 
Captain John Hazen and Lieut. Timothy Bedel, officers 
in General Goff's regiment. Returning from the siege of 
Montreal they passed through this valley and through this 
very township, where they stopped, attracted by its many 
advantages as a place for home-making, and considered the 
feasibility of procuring a charter for townships on both 
sides of the river. 

Proceeding along these lines in the summer of 1761, they 
sent men to take possession, cut the grass on the mead- 
ows, and brought cattle to consume it, the men re- 
maining until the spring of 1762 and probably until the 
permanent settlers arrived. Thus with Bayley and Kent 
at the head of the Newbury forces, Hazen and Bedel, the 
sponsors of the Haverhill contingent, the twin towns began 
to make and record their own history. 

But I cannot refrain from infringing on your time long 
enough to give expression to my views of the men and times 
of the early days. 

To start this settlement they took a leap of 65 miles 



110 Horace Ward Bailey 

into the northern wilderness, the nearest human habitation 
being at Charlestown, N. H., (Old No. 4.). 

They came up the Connecticut river by hand-sled in 
the winter and by boat in the summer; they followed the 
old Indian trails on foot, on horseback, with faithful, plod- 
ding ox team; others came the overland trail from Baker's 
River valley ; but they got here, they stayed here, and here 
they planted this township. 

To the west of them an unbroken wilderness to the 
shores of Lake Champlain, and to the north of them no 
white man's habitation short of the St. Lawrence valley. 

Well may they have sung Cowper's song of the isola- 
tion of Selkirk, 

"I am monarch of all I survey. 
My right there is none to dispute. 
From the center all around to the sea 
I am lord of the fowl and the brute. " 

Imagination falls limp before the task of describing 
the conditions of life in those days. If there are degrees 
of the beautiful in primeval valleys and hills and moun- 
tains, this region must have been superlative when the 
fathers arrived, because untouched by the greedy grasp 
of the human hand. 

What a scenic panorama of surpassing beauty and 
grandeur must have greeted those sturdy souls in the very 
early twilight of our natal morning! But if they devoted 
much time or energy to the worship of scenery, history fails 
to record the fact. 

But no wail of discontent or tale of hardship comes 
wafted to us from that period, for they were nature's noble 
men and noble women, bent on home-making and the 



Public Addresses 111 

establishment of a community, the builders of institutions, 
of towns, of commonwealths. They were men and women 
in the fore-front of their times. 

They toiled and wrought, wrought and toiled, and we 
have fallen heirs to their handiwork. 

While we are looking backward to the early days, 
powerless to express our thought, yea powerless to think 
adequately of that home life and its surroundings, what 
would they say if now permitted to visit the scene of their 
early struggles? 

Yonder Mount Pulaski and range of hills, terribly 
denuded, but the same old hills, down in this valley the 
beautiful and peaceful Connecticut river flowing seaward, 
considerably diminished in volume, but the same old river, 
these great meadows, the same old meadows, and the 
story of similarity is told. 

How the word astonishment would fail to express their 
emotions at the first sight of railway trains, the telegraph, 
telephone and the electrically lighted village, the motor 
car and aeroplane! 

Fancy if you can the sadness of the fathers searching, 
ere sun up, for toiling farmer on meadow with hoe, with 
rake, with scythe, and jug of invigorating drink, but if the 
fathers wait awhile they will see prancing steed hitched 
to the spreader, the gang-plow, the wheel-harrow, the 
seeder, the cultivator, the mowing machine, the hay-tedder, 
the horse-rake and harvesters of all kinds, the toiling 
farmer always riding. 

What would the mothers say when invited to inspect 
our well appointed homes, searching for the loom, the 
spinning wheel, and the swift, finding them alone in the 
front hall like a visitor of state bedecked with costly ribbon. 



112 Horace Ward Bailey 

how disappointed returning from a search for the home- 
made ward-robe, the dairy of butter and cheese, the barrel 
of cider apple sauce, the dried herbs in open chamber, the 
box of dipped candles and the year's stock of soap. And 
were they entertained at our tables they would be amazed 
at the amount of good food provided without the brick 
oven. 

And perchance they stop in town a few Sabbath days, 
instituting a search for the family altars, noting our reduced 
number of church services, the diminished attendance, 
that we attend church only under the most favorable con- 
ditions, and that we absent ourselves under the flimsiest 
pretext, or no pretext at all, how extremely sad they 
would be! 

"Oh where are the family altars now, 

Where men were wont to pray, 

Where they gathered their children night and morn 

As they trod the narrow way? 

"When they read from the living word of God 
The precious words of life, 
When father was patriarch and priest, 
And the mother a Christian wife. " 

They have gone beyond recall, but they live in undying 
memory, the fragrance of their lives has permeated the 
generations. 

Although all that is mortal of them lies yonder be- 
neath the greensward of God's silent acre, the lives they 
have lived become glorified by the vision of passing years. 

The memory of them quickens our pulsations for a 
more vigorous warfare against the forces of evil, strengthens 



Public Addresses 113 

our purpose to greater activity and fortitude in all of our 
life's battles. 

With their God-fearing lives continually before us, 
and the work of their hands ours by legitimate descent, we 
should not fail to build well for succeeding generations. 

Friends and visitors and strangers, I am delegated 
by this town to bid you a most cordial welcome to these 
anniversary exercises. To a town of patriotic history, to 
a town of homes and hearts made grand and good by a 
noble ancestry, you are bidden a thrice cordial welcome. 

On the following day he opened the exercises at the 
Union Meeting House at West Newbury with this short 
but felicitious speech: 

Neighbors and Friends: 

Of the very many happy events of my life I count 
foremost the public gatherings and social intercourse of 
this neighborhood. 

I think I must have inherited from father and grand- 
father a fraternal and social spirit towards this section of 
the town, because there still lingers in memory their stories 
of the good times and royal hospitality experienced by 
them in their social and little trade and traffic pilgrimages 
to this part of the town, covering a period of more than a 
hundred years. 

I was born as near to your little hamlet as a river 
roader could well be, and am a part of you by marriage, 
not my own, sad to relate, but that of my sister who suc- 
ceeded well when she selected the fairest pebble on all this 
beach to love and obey, picked as it were a real plum from 
one of your very old family trees. 

For many years I attempted to execute trusts such 
(8) 



114 Horace Ward Bailey 

as the town of Newburj^ dared to commit to my cure, bring- 
ing me much into this community, giving opportunit}^ to 
break bread at your family board and test your hospitalit5^ 
I have never found elsewhere anything to be compared 
with the hospitality, or the bread. 

I have almost dared to hope that when my larger 
circles of travel are ended, and before I lay down the im- 
plements of life's warfare, I may be privileged to go the 
rounds of this neighborhood a few more times. 

I remember well, that during the years of my sojourn 
at my summer camp, you were many times my guest so far 
as hospitality went, but you always furnished the bread 
and some to spare, you have somehow always managed 
your affairs so that there were baskets full of loaves and 
fishes left over after ample f eastings. 

I have mingled with you in seasons of joy and sorrow, 
remembering as though it were but yesterday, Avhen the 
bell was hoisted into the tower of this building, the happy 
gathering on these premises and the exercises in this IMeeting 
House. That was twenty years ago the 4th of last month, 
yet the scene is still vivid and the memory of it refreshing, 
but the good fathers and mothers of that day have ceased 
from their labors and gone to a well-earned reward. 

I have also in the mind's eye a gathering on March 2, 
1910, at the dedication of the hall across the way, and the 
enjoyment of that event. 

Time is too short for me to catalogue all your joys, 
3"0ur seasons of happiness and times of prosperity; they are 
legion. 

Clouds sometimes pass over you and between you, 
sunshine is turned for a moment into shadow, but never for 
long duration. 



Public Addresses 115 

Your seasons of peace have always been in the ma- 
jority, but if perchance the flag of truce has been trampled 
in the dust, or the safety signal has failed to operate, re- 
sulting in a head-on collision, you have fought as men and 
women of positive characters must fight, like true soldiers 
whose only God is the God of Battle, but not a single 
fatality has ever stained your good record. 

As the years go faster along, I love to remember those 
of you with whom I associated in the early manhood period, 
loving to note your achievements ; time is too short to parade 
them all in your presence this afternoon, a single example 
I think will be sufficient. 

I now have in mind the achievements of a life-long 
friend, a son of one of your very earliest families, whose 
business card reads as follows: — 

1774 Rogers Hill Farms 1912. 

That this friend should become the ecclesiastical 
patriarch of the neighborhood, while some years my 
junior, seems to me to be too much glory and renown to 
be omitted from these annals. 

He is now the legitimate parent of Hope and Faith, 
and because Faith is the substance of things hoped for and 
the evidence of things not seen, he, like a real patriarch 
of old, is patiently but submissively awaiting a dispensation 
which will add Charity to his family circle, that his triple 
list of graces and virtues may be complete and his cup of 
joy full and running over. 

But friends, it is sacrilege to keep you waiting for the 
better and more substantial portion of your program. I 
looked into the dictionary to find the meaning of the Avord 
"sacrilege" and found one of the definitions to be "the 



116 Horace Ward Bailey 

breaking into a church and committing a felon3^" I 
have already broken into this church and for me to steal 
more of your precious moments would be, to say the least, 
an unwarranted felony. 

The dedication of the monument to Gen. Jacob Bayley 
was one of the notable features of the week, and by way of 
introduction to the exercises Mr. Bailey spoke as follows: 

Descendants of Jacob Bayley, 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

There can be no service more fitting of a nation, a 
state, a community, or a family, than a service com- 
memorating events and achievements of great civil, mili- 
tary or historic importance, memorializing the life and 
perpetuating the memory of the authors of such events and 
achievements. 

We are convened this afternoon to take part in such a 
memorial event, b}' far the most important in the week's 
series. 

It is hardly necessary to say that you, the descendants 
of Jacob Bayley, have been tardy in discharging a debt 
honestly due your illustrious ancestor, and that we, not of 
his flesh and blood, but his children because we are inhabi- 
tants of the town of which he was the heroic founder, and 
paternal head, have been neglectful, although perhaps not 
unmindful, of the duty and obligation which has so long 
remained undischarged. 

The circle of those who should pay homage to General 
Jacob Bayley may be widened to reach far beyond his blood 
relatives and the inhabitants of the town of Newbury, for 
he was the central figure in the Coos country, a prominent 



Public Addresses 117 

leader and commander in the civil and military affairs of the 
new state of Vermont. 

To-day we rejoice with, and extend sincere congratula- 
tions to, you of Jacob Bayley's blood in the accomplish- 
ment of the splendid memorial which you have wrought, 
and while you have paid only a just debt, you have paid 
it well. 

The town of Newbury at its last annual meeting, of 
its own motion and without request from you, voted to 
assist in the erection of this memorial to the extent of 
placing the foundation and doing the grading for the monu- 
ment site. This it was our bounden duty to do, and it 
is a pleasure to state that it was done without a dissenting 
voice. 

It is fitting that we gather here to pay tribute to a man 
like Jacob Bayley, for men of his exact type are not legion 
in all the generations of written history. And speaking in 
behalf of the town of Newbury, it is pleasing to say that they 
have pride in being permitted to have even so small a 
share in so grand a work. 

It is also most fitting that this monument should be 
erected in such a conspicuous place on our pubhc common, 
where it may be seen and read of all men, where let us hope 
it may stand through the ages in memory of one of nature's 
noblemen. 

Here the granite pile will stand through coming gen- 
erations, a living, forceful reminder of the sterling char- 
acter of the hero it commemorates. Unchanged by sum- 
mer suns or blasting storm of winter, though voiceless and 
cold and inanimate, these blocks of stone and inscriptions 
of bronze will be speaking, in sweetest cadence, their les- 



118 Horace Ward Bailey 

sons of unselfish patriotism when we have long been for- 
gotten in that silent land. 

The records of the life we now commemorate are fair 
pages marred not by blot or stain, a life lived in the open, 
never seeking the shadows. So may this memorial stand 
in the open, with no shelter nor cap nor dome, save the 
pure vaulted skies of heaven. 

The one hundred and fifty years of our life as a town 
have furnished us many heroic fathers and mothers, grand 
men and grand women, the records of whose lives richly 
adorn our annals, and this afternoon we select one of them, 
for commemoration and perpetuation, Jacob Bayley, the 
noblest Roman of them all. 

The address of greatest historical importance was de- 
livered on the occasion of the dedication of the Marker 
on the site of the old State House and is here given in full: 

From the many historic spots in this vicinity, the site 
df the Old State House has been selected as one especially 
worth}^ of perpetuation by enduring bronze and stone. 

The Oxbow school-house occupies the plot of land, 
standing on the very site of the historic structure we now 
seek to commemorate; the plot of land and the several 
buildings thereon erected form an interesting and im- 
portant chapter in the history of Newbury. 

Until 1808 the Vermont Legislature had convened in 
several of the more populous towns. That year Mont- 
pelier became the permanent capital of the State, but for 
some years prior to that time there had been a healthy 
rivalry among the larger towns to secure the much coveted 
prize. 

Newbury, having enjoyed the benefits of a session 



Public Addresses 119 

of the Legislature in 1787, and being in the eligible list in 
1801, and a lively contestant for the State Capital, decided 
to build a suitable house for the accommodation of the 
assembly that year, thereby strengthening their claim 
for the future Capital of the State. 

This plot of land begins to make history on May 
23, 1801, when it was deeded by William B. Bannister to 
Thomas Johnson and 32 other persons. This great under- 
taking was to be carried through by public spirited citizens 
contributing money, labor and material. Colonel Thomas 
Johnson was not only prime factor and chief contributor 
in this important undertaking, but a most distinguished 
citizen of this town, a revolutionary patriot and a man of 
great prominence in the civil and military affairs of the 
Coos country. 

No better evidence of the hustle and ability to do 
things in the early days has come down to us than that the 
statehouse was completed ready for the occupancy of 
the legislature October 8, in the same year. 

It was constructed of wood, contained one large room 
with desks for the use of the members; having a gallery 
over the entrance; the council chamber designed for the 
governor and council was in the other end of the building, 
there were several smaller rooms for the use of state officials 
and committees. 

The convening of this legislature was one of New- 
bury's greatest events. Isaac Tichenor of Bennington 
was governor. No governor up to that time and for many 
years after was chosen from this side of the state. Colonel 
Thomas Johnson was the Newbury representative, serving 
his tenth and last term. The members, together with 
state officers and dignitaries, marched with military escort 



120 Horace Ward Bailey 

and pomp to the "Old Meeting-House, " Avhich stood on 
the "Little Plain" near the present residence of Edmund 
B. Atkinson to listen to the customary election sermon 
and odes, the sermon being preached by Rev. Nathaniel 
Lambert, the pastor, two original election odes being sung 
by a large chorus under the direction of Jeremiah Ingalls, 
a resident of Newbury, a musician and author of great 
note. 

At this session Steven R. Bradley was chosen U. S. 
senator, Isaac Bayley, esq., of Newbury, state auditor, 
pro tem, John Robinson, chief judge of the supreme court. 

A pension was granted to Joe Indian, celebrated in 
the annals of Coos, a strict Sunday and anti-gambling 
law was passed; also a measure to encourage the sheep 
industry, allowing a deduction of one dollar on a person's 
taxes for each sheep sheared, not exceeding twenty in 
number. 

Perhaps the most important measure of the session 
was the passing of a law opening the way for separating 
state and church, this law provided for exempting from 
church taxation persons who filed with the town clerk a 
manifesto, as follows; "I do not agree in religious opinion 
with a majority of the inhabitants of this town." 

At this session the governor's salary was fixed at $750, 
the present salary being S2500; the state treasurer's salary 
at $400, against $1700 at present; and the judges of the 
court at $1000, against $4000 at the present time. 

This was the fortieth session of the Vermont legis- 
lature, lasting thirty days, 160 members were in attendance 
together with 18 members of the governor's council, the 
debentures of the session were nearly $11,000 or about 
$365.00 per day. 



Public Addresses 121 

The session of 1910 contained 240 members and 30 
senators and lasted 91 days, the debentures amounting 
to $145,849.59, or a httle in excess of $1,600.00 per day. 
Thus by this token we mark the progress of time in 110 
years. The population of Newbury at that time was 
1363, against 2035 at present, a difference of only 672. 

The land in question was granted for the use of the 
town as a public common, the grantees reserving the right 
to erect thereon the state-house, a county grammar school 
building and to maintain buildings for any other moral 
and useful purposes. 

The circumstances under which the state-house was 
built, and the peculiar and somewhat vague conditions of 
the deed, were fertile sources of litigation, and it is safe 
to say that more law suits grew out of this plot of land 
than from any other one source in all our history. 

The last lawsuit was terminated in the supreme court 
in 1852, growing out of the erection of the school-house, 
the building now standing on the plot, in which the courts 
held that the school-house was a nuisance not in keeping 
with the terms and reservations recited in the deed, and 
that the title reverted to the town for a public common. 

But the school-house was built, serving Avell its pur- 
pose, and so far as the record shows the Oxbow school 
district, (Old No. 3), never had title to the land, other 
than that gained by possession. 

A district school was kept in the old state-house from 
1802 to 1829, when a school-house was built on the north- 
east portion of the plot, in which a school was maintained 
until 1851, when the present school building was erected, 
a school being maintained therein until old districts 3 and 
4, were united March 1, 1892, the last term ending February 



122 Horace Ward Bailey 

25, 1892, with Miss Belle Hibbard, of blessed memory, as 
teacher. 

Town meetings and other public gatherings were held 
in the old state-house until about 1829, when the building 
became unfit for use, but it lingered in slow deeaj'^ until 
about 1839 or 1840, when it was taken down. 

The building known to two generations as the Oxbow 
school-house has been leased during the present year for a 
term of 99 years by the town school district, to the Oxbow 
chapter, D. A. R., for a chapter house. It has been re- 
paired and rejuvenated, taking its place in our community 
among the useful and ornamental establishments. Other 
interesting particulars relating to this historic spot may be 
found in the history of Newbury and in volume 24, Vermont 
Supreme Court Decisions. 

Cut loose the imagination for a moment, grasp if you 
can what it meant in labor, in sacrifice and in money to 
the early fathers to build and furnish such a building, and 
what it meant to the early mothers to entertain the digni- 
taries of the entire state for the space of thirty days. 
Think for a moment of ninety continuous years of a district 
school in the most populous and thrifty section of this 
town. What think you of that regiment of teachers, all 
sorts and kinds, many loved, some hated, others so passive 
as to be neither loved or hated? Think of that grand 
array of pupils ranging from child in bib and tucker to great 
stalwarts; think for a moment of the energy wasted in their 
loves and hates for teacher and towards each other. 

Think of the incipient love affairs through whose 
stages these girls and boys must have passed in ninety 
years of time, and of the struggles of the teachers in teaching 
and the pupils in being taught, and vice versa. What 



Public Addresses 123 

of the punishings and promisings, the strappings, the 
whalings and wailings of ninety long years. Think of the 
successes and failures, and recall all those who went from 
this school to higher institutions of learning, to the higher 
walks in life, to an honorable leadership, while others re- 
ceived no further education and became plain honest 
plodders. 

Count the lies told here in 90 years, compute if you 
can the items of deviltry invented and promulgated from 
this historic spot in almost a century of time, such lies and 
items as are promulgated with neatness and dispatch by a 
real live aggressive boy — or girl, but they were of such a 
nature that the tender heart of humankind and a merciful 
God can forgive and soon forget. 

But all these years are laden with more good than 
evil, this historic spot has stood more in the sunshine than 
in the shadow. Now then, let us in behalf of the town of 
Newbury, dedicate this monument to the memory of 
Colonel Thomas Johnson and the thirty-two other grantees 
mentioned in the Bannister deed, and to the mothers of 
1801, who entertained the members of that legislature and 
the state officials. Let us not forget the regiment of 
teachers gone out from the three buildings standing on 
this historic plot of land, and their little army of followers. 

Let us remember the legislators of 1801, who came 
into this peaceful vale on horseback, attended to the affairs 
of state expeditiously, then wended their way homeward. 
The fathers of the town held swaj'- here for a long series of 
years in town and school meetings, augmented by a sturdy 
yeomanry, settling questions of moment, keeping the affairs 
of town and school district in favorable channels. They 
too wrought well. They for the most part have gone out 



124 Horace Ward Bailey 

into that great silent unknown land, from whence there is 
no returning. In vain do we yearn for the touch of their 
hand and the sound of their voices ; only in the silent cham- 
})ers of a longing soul can we hold sweet communion with 
them. In memory of them all and to perpetuate all that 
was good and noble in their lives, let us now graciously 
and reverently dedicate this marker of stone and bronze. 

Mr. Bailey was frequently invited to speak before the 
Grand Army posts on Memorial Day and all of his ad- 
dresses have been preserved. They have the true patriotic 
ring and are full of allusions to the valor of our forefathers, 
as well as deserved praise for the veterans of the Civil war. 
One of his Scrap Books contains a list of his various engage- 
ments and the entries are as follows : 

1892. Welcome to the Col. Preston Post of Wells 
River in Seminary Hall, Newbury. 

1894. Address to the Col. Ransom Post at West 
Topsham. 

1896. Address of welcome to the Orange County 
Veterans' Association at their reunion at the Methodist 
church in Newbury on September 4. 

1901. Address before the Fred M. Edgell Post at 
Piermont, N. H. 

1902. Address before the Col. Preston Post at the 
Congregational church in Wells River. 

1903. Address before the Col. Ransom Post at the 
Meeting House at East Corinth. 

1905. Address before the Erastus Buck Post at the 
Opera House in Island Pond. 

1906. Address before the Roberts Post at the Rutland 
Opera House. 

In the following pages are given extracts from some of 
these addresses. 



Public Addresses 125 

Extracts from Memorial Day Address at 

PlERMONT, N. H,, before THE FrED M. EdGELL PoST. 

Veterans, these scenes, those impulses and emotions, 
as you live them over and over, mellowed by a generation 
of years, are robbed of their sting. You fought for the 
Union. It was preserved to us with increased grandeur 
and strength until Old Glory now has 45 stars all her own, 
while others shining with an oriental lustre are knocking 
at our doors. Softened by the departed years we have for- 
given the boys in gray. They, too, fought those battles 
well. Cooled by the trade winds of a quarter of a century 
we can reason with less passion and can now see that the 
people living in Dixie believed in the doctrine of state 
rights and fought an honest war from their standpoint. 
Time, the great healer, has closed the gulf. The Blue and 
the Gray no longer stand for opposite contending forces, 
but rather for the two arms of a common country, strong 
in her defense. 

With the new century come new problems. The 
question of disunion confronts us no longer, but to say 
that our proud old Ship of State, which has so splendidly 
outridden many a fierce storm, is no longer in danger 
would not be true. The Ship of State is the target for 
many a deadly missile hurled from the open field, as well 
as the more dangerous attack from the enemy in am- 
buscade. 

Veterans, you are no longer "tenting on the old camp 
ground," waiting for the cruel v/ar to cease, but veterans 
and citizens alike are tenting on the camp ground of the 
grandest and freest nation on earth. We are in the midst 
of a warfare for the right and are being confronted with 
problems as far-reaching in their results as any that have 



126 Horace Ward Bailey 

crowded themselves upon us in all our history. How 
shall we meet these problems? We will meet them with 
the same courage and sublime heroism as the New Hamp- 
shire fighting Fifth and the Old Vermont Brigade met the 
assailers of the Union on Southern soil. Let us stand up 
for the right; teach and live a truer citizenship; teach and 
live a better manhood and womanhood. Let us teach and 
live a better observance of our national holidays. Let us 
teach the youth that Memorial Day was not appointed for 
the convenience of young America to enjoy athletic games. 
Let us teach the boys that their first duty is to these gray- 
haired veterans who have by their heroic deeds handed 
down to us this united country. Let us teach our boys 
and girls that good citizenship is the keystone to the arch 
on which our national fabric rests. Let us teach them by 
our example the great value of pure character, the strongest 
bulwark of which any nation can boast. 

Why not enact laws that shall unfurl to the breeze 
the stars and stripes over everj^ schoolhouse in our land, 
for the flag itself is the grandest object lesson in patriotism 
that a great nation can bequeath to a great people. 

Men strong in body, and women, too, sometimes, 
lack moral courage to help the weak and fallen, and leave 
undone that which ought to be done. Men have the 
courage to go on the battlefield and face the deadly bullets 
that are falling like hail, but they lack the courage to bare 
the arm and reach down into the slums to lift up a weak 
and perishing brother. This day commemorates the 
deeds of valor, heroism and self-sacrifice. Let us then 
go out from these memorial exercises with a new impulse 
for the right; with a moral courage strong enough, wide 
enough, and deep enough to embrace the Fatherhood of 



Public Addresses 127 

God and the Brotherhood of man. As we go marching 
on let us unfurl our banner and upon its folds let these words 
be written, "For whatsoever ye would that men should 
do unto you, do ye even so unto them." 

When the last one of that noble Grand Army shall 
have been mustered out may a grateful nation perpetuate 
its memory by planting above each grave on Memorial 
Day the dear old flag. 

From the Address before the Col. Ransom Post 
AT West Topsham. 

Vermont soil was never the permanent abiding place 
of any of the great tribes of red men, yet our broad meadows 
and wooded hills were favorite hunting grounds and resting 
places. Our unbroken forests, our lakes and rivers, were 
highways for the untutored savages in their pilgrimages 
to and from their bloodthirsty invasions. To the red 
men our soil was common property. 

And, my friends, Vermont soil was far too common 
among the provincial governors of George III. Went- 
worth of New Hampshire and Tryon of New York coveted 
our little territory, and after having granted nearly 200 
townships under the New Hampshire grants, our territory 
was conceded to New York and Gov. Tryon and his greedy 
deputies sought to enrich themselves by re-selling and re- 
granting these townships which had once been sold and 
granted. They sought, first by persuasive argument, then 
by force, to eject Vermonters from their grants, their lands, 
and their homes. 

What an interesting chapter in Vermont historj' from 
1765 to 1775! How the rank and file of Green Mountain 
Boys displayed sturdy manhood! How their leaders. 



128 Horace Ward Bailey 

Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, stepped to 
the front, and, never realizing it themselves, wrote their 
names as heroes high up on history's page! In the cour- 
ageous acts of their briefly written documents, demanding 
surrender and answering the demands of surrender; in 
their wonderful enthusing will power to surmount all ob- 
stacles, the hero of the Civil War, Gen. Grant, and Ethan 
Allen, Vermont's great hero, were not unlike. 

Refused again and again admission to the thirteen 
original states, the Green Mountain Boys never turned 
their backs on the cause of Freedom, but fought shoulder 
to shoulder with the united colonies and were an im- 
portant factor in securing their ultimate independence. 



Where was Vermont when the old flag was fired upon 
with stolen powder at Fort Sumter? Members of Col. 
Ransom Post, you can answer that question. And I can 
answer it from history's blood-bespattered page. You 
know that these hills and valleys have responded to every 
call in the defense of her homes and her country. You 
know that in every war where human liberty was at stake 
she has risen to the emergencj^ with a spontaneity which 
has been the admiration of the civilized world. You know 
that from her sparsely-settled neighborhoods she gave 
7,731 men to the cause of our independence, and nearly 
9,000 more to the war of 1812. Before the ruins of Fort 
Sumter had ceased smoking, one of Vermont's great heroes, 
Gen. George J. Stannard, was communicating with the 
captains of the companies of his Floodwood regiment, 
immediately by telegraph offering himself and his regi- 
ment to Gov. Fairbanks to protect the dear old flag. 



Public Addresses 129 

On April 15 President Lincoln issued his first call for 
75,000 volunteers. On the 23d of the same month Gov. 
Fairbanks convened the Vermont Legislature in extra 
session. No man ever rose to an occasion fraught with 
terrible forebodings with more ability and patriotism than 
Vermont's first war Governor. His address to the Legis- 
lature was a comprehensive and patriotic resume of the 
times. Vermont's patriotism was instantaneous, and as 
if inspired by an electric shock the brain and brawn and 
strongly-throbbing heart of our beloved state was advancing 
to Lincoln's call. That extra session lasted but four days 
but it lasted long enough to give the Green Mountain 
state a place in the forefront of that great conflict. In 
that body of legislators was Vermont's grand old war 
horse, Gen. Stephen Thomas. He was a man who had 
no fear of bullets; a man from Orange county whom you 
delight to honor as comrade and Commander; a man of 
whom Vermont is ever proud. When the measure was 
before that extra session to appropriate $500,000 for war 
purposes, he shouted, "Make it a million," and that sum 
was unanimously voted. 

During that conflict Vermont furnished 18 regiments, 
three batallions and three detached companies, 34,238 men 
in all at a cost to the state of $9,000,000. And 13,724 of 
these brave boys paid tribute to the righteous cause by 
giving up their hves on battlefield, in hospital and in 
prison pen. Is it too much that we devote one day in the 
year to their memory and to the Grand Army of the Re- 
public? 

The lesson of the day is that we must be up and doing. 
This world is full of sunshine and let us be careful that 
(9) 



130 Horace Ward Bailey 

clouds do not cast their sorrowing shadows in our path- 
way. It is human to err, but divine to forgive. Let us 
scorn isms, dogmas and creeds, going out into the world 
as manly men, saying and doing kind and helpful things, 
bearing aloft the banner on which is inscribed the 
Golden Rule. And as we turn our backs, but not our 
hearts, upon the scenes of Memorial day, may we strive, 
soldier and civilian alike, to be ever true to ourselves, our 
country and our God. 

Last Memorial Day Address. 

His last Memorial address was first given at Island 
Pond in 1905 and repeated at Rutland the following year. 
Copious extracts from this here follow: 

Memorial Day came up from small beginnings, having 
its conception in the good and loving hearts of noble women 
in the Southland, residing near battlefields where large 
numbers of the Blue and Gray were buried in unknown 
graves. This custom of decorating the soldiers' graves 
existed as early as 1864 and when the war closed this beau- 
tiful custom was well established. Earl}^ in the spring of 
1868 Gen. John A. Logan, then Commander-in-Chief of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a General Order 
to all posts directing that on May 30 the graves of the 
fallen comrades should be decorated. Seized by a spirit 
of patriotism all the Northern states by legislative enact- 
ment established May 30 as a holiday. Similar legisla- 
tion followed in the Southern states for the boys in gray. 
In Louisiana it is April 6; in Alabama, Florida, Georgia 
and Mississippi, April 26; in Virginia and North Carolina, 
May 10. 

So from these small beginnings has come this grand 



Public Addresses 131 

Memorial day custom of a visitation to the last resting 
place of the dead soldiery of all the wars. Today a hundred 
great national cemeteries, with their thousand upon 
thousand of graves known and unknown, receive the kindly 
ministrations of a patriotic people. From these vast 
cities of the dead the custom has spread through the great 
North and West until it has found the grave of every 
soldier, though hidden by grass, bush and brier and without 
marble or inscription. You, veterans, have located the 
almost obliterated mound above the mortal remains of 
your departed comrade, saluted it with the old flag, and 
decked it with flower or fern in kindly remembrance of 
those other days now swiftly receding into the past. 

Vermont in its legislation relating to Memorial Day 
is many strides in advance of its sister states. It has pro- 
vided for a Pre-Memorial day in its schools in which at 
least one half-day shall be devoted to the study of patriot- 
ism. But have we done our full duty in standing firmly 
for Memorial Day. I sometimes think that Young America 
has siezed his parent by the forelock and is snatching him 
through the opening of a new century at a rate of speed 
altogether out of proportion to the speed attained by the 
fathers as Young Americas in the last half of the last cen- 
tury. Let us show the boys and girls of today every help- 
ful consideration in their onward march consistent with 
good judgment, for they are the men and women of to- 
morrow upon whom we must lean, and upon whom the 
burdens and cares now committed to us must eventually 
rest. We shall, however, be remiss in our duty if we do 
not teach a better observance of Memorial Day. We 
should insist that this day was not set apart for Young 
America to indulge in sports and games. Young America 



132 Horace Ward Bailey 

should be taught that their first duty is to the Grand Army 
of the Republic — veterans first, games second. The school 
children should perform escort duty to these veterans. 
It is onlj^ right and just that this rapidly diminishing 
Grand Army of the Republic should be flanked on the right 
and flanked on the left, and reinforced from every quarter 
by the school children of todaj'. This, I firmly believe, is 
the only safe and sure way to perpetuate this glorious day. 
I would have the flag fly from every schoolhouse and pub- 
lic building in this beloved state of ours, for the flag itself 
is the grandest living object lesson in patriotism. I would 
have that soul-stirring national hymn taught in our schools 
until every boy and girl became as familiar with it as they 
now are with "Our Father, which art in Heaven." 

"My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of Liberty" — 

is a most fitting companion piece to the Lord's Prayer 
whenever it is necessary to pray and sing. 

Some m.en with more love of self than of their coun- 
try would disparage this day. If I should disparage this 
day then I should discredit the 6,149 Grand Army posts 
in the United States with their membership of 246,261. 
Then I should discredit the 100 Grand Army posts with 
their 3,000 members in our own commonwealth. 

Then too, veterans, when I discredit you and the small 
fragment which you stand for as an organization, I should 
discredit that vast army of nearly 3,000,000 men who 
sprang to our country's defense in the darkest hour of her 
history. No, my friends, I would have Memorial Day 
go on and on. I would have it better supported, and 
better observed forever and ever. Veterans, this day is 



Public Addresses 133 

yours — absolutely yours. It is yours to do homage to the 
departed commander and comrade; yours to meet and 
greet each other; yours to recount the days of service, the 
periods of your rejoicings and the seasons of your suffer- 
ings. This day is yours, morning and evening. 

You do not have to read history to become famihar 
with the momentous events and stirring scenes of those 
early days, for you are part and parcel of that history. 
You know how spontaneouslj^ our Green Mountain State has 
risen to the call for arms for her own defense in the early 
years of its settlement and statehood, when it had nowhere 
a sister state, colony or republic to which it could turn 
for help or protection. 

I am not at all in sympathy with that unpatriotic 
sentiment which says that in times like these, in events like 
the one we are now commemorating, we should turn our 
backs on the long ago; that our eyes should be shut, our 
ears stopped, and our memories paralyzed to the heroic 
deeds of the past. To set apart one day in 365, devoted 
exclusively to patriotic purposes, is indeed a small con- 
tribution to that great debt which we owe to our boys in 
blue, and which by every tie and compact of reason and 
justice we are unconditionally bound to pay. In every 
department of human knowledge — in art, in science, in 
commerce, in the religion of Him of Nazareth, — the dim 
and almost unreadable pages of history as well as its 
brighter scrolls are brought down to the today of our 
existence and made the enduring foundation upon which 
to build the great superstructure of tomorrow. Hence so 
long as Memorial Day exists let us on its annual recurrence 
traverse the ground from Atlanta to the sea. Let us 



134 Horace Ward Bailey 

" Rally round the flag, boys, 

Rally once again; 

Shouting the battle cry of Freedom," 

and in the archives of memory on the thirtieth of every 
May you shall go "Tenting on the old camp ground," 
and you shall hear, although only in memory's dim echoes, 
the tramp of the boys marching and shouting, "On to 
Washington," and "We are coming, Father Abraham, 
300,000 strong." 

Why not speak of that period in our history when 
Preston C. Brooks, a Senator from South Carolina, in a 
speech on the floor of the Senate said, "I tell you, fellow 
citizens, from the bottom of my heart, the only mode 
which I think available for meeting this issue is just to 
tear the constitution of the United States, trample it under 
foot, and form a Southern Confederacy." 

That, friends, is a part of the record you have so well 
earned, when for some years dark clouds had been gather- 
ing on our national horizon; when the North and the 
South could not place the same interpretation on our 
constitution. The storm approached, the unskilled eye 
could see that a fearful deluge of blood was close at hand, 
that peaceable debate in Congress could not settle the 
question as to whether or not the Union should dissolve. 
In the Presidential chair sat James Buchanan surrounded 
by men as traitorous to the Union as himself. On Decem- 
ber 20, 1860, South Carolina, in convention assembled, 
passed a resolution closing with these words, "And that 
the Union now existing between South Carolina and the 
United States, under the name The United States of Amer- 
ica is hereby dissolved. " 



Public Addresses 135 

The very next month Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina followed South 
Carolina's lead by adopting similar resolutions, and in 
February elected delegates to the Southern Confederacy 
that inaugurated Jefferson Davis as its president. On 
November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln, the chieftain of 
American history, and its truest citizen, was elected presi- 
dent. During the period intervening between Mr. Lin- 
coln's election and his inauguration, brief though it was, 
these states had withdrawn from the Union and the meanest 
acts of treachery and disloyalty ever written in history 
had transpired. Southerners resigned their seats at the 
national capital under the Stars and Stripes, and scampered 
away to Montgomery to assume similar positions under 
the stars and bars. Southern forts were occupied by the 
traitors, military stores of every kind were siezed by the 
deserters, the national treasury was robbed and our navy 
was despatched to foreign waters. At early dawn on 
April 12, 1861, old Fort Sumter was fired upon, and for 36 
hours it was besieged by red hot shot and shell. The 
cloud had burst, the deluge had fallen. 

Where was old Vermont when the flag was fired on 
with stolen powder? Members of this post, you can well 
answer that question, for you were part and parcel of the 
history of that period. 



But in all their plottings and plannings, in all their 
acts of treachery and attempts to wreck the constitution 
of the United States, to tear in shreds its holy emblem and 
trample it under their feet, whether their motives were 
honest or not, the solid South had failed to take the meas- 



136 Horace Ward Bailey 

ure of the solid North. Little did they realize that the 
North could be so solid. Little did the solid South realize 
that the North could lay aside every civil and ecclesiastical 
difference and become so solidly united in the defense of 
Old Glory. 

Veterans, those scenes, those impulses, those emotions, 
as you live them over and over again, mellowed by almost 
a half century of years, are robbed of their sting. Veterans, 
you fought for the Union. By your courageous acts it 
was preserved and has come down to us with increased 
strength and grandeur, until our national emblem contains 
45 bright stars, all her own, and others just now seeking a 
place within her folds. 

Softened by the departed years we have forgiven the 
boys in gray; they, too, fought those battles well. Time, 
the great healer, has closed the gulf. The blue and the 
gray no longer stand for contending forces, but rather for 
the two arms of a common country, strong in her defence. 

It is well to keep in mind that in the events just nar- 
rated the cause was wholly within our borders. With the 
march of years our strength has increased, so that just now 
our grand old ship of state is proudly riding on the crest 
of the wave. We may not need to scan the surface of the 
boundless deep to see if, perchance, the fleet of a foreign 
foe is emerging out of the misty horizon. If our ship of 
state is ever again bombarded, and made to reel and groan 
and stagger and creak as in the sixties, like then it will be 
from foes within. 

Patriotism, genuine patriotic thought and word and 
action is as essential just now as in the sixties. We should 
be fearless and patriotic in our examination of the ship of 
state. We should see that its captain, its pilot, its stew- 



Public Addresses 137 

ard, its purser, together with its mates and crew, are honest, 
safe, conservative men. We should see to it that its great 
throbbing machinery is guided by the hand of an engineer 
skilled in statecraft. We should look to the welding of the 
links of its anchor chain. We should see that its sails are 
set to catch the trade winds of the civilized world and its 
compass boxed towards the rising sun. This we can do 
by being absolutely true and honest to the details of every 
day existence as they confront us in the onward march of 
time. 

Standing on the threshold of a new century, with the 
gathered wisdom of the ages spread before us, life indeed 
ought not to be a failure. But to the most of us life will 
be a failure if we acknowledge inabihty to scale heights 
and climb where fame's eternal shadows fall o'er the world. 
But to start and strive and struggle to gain the heights, 
though we reach them not, is not failure. We may fail 
to reach the goal of our ambition, but every honest effort 
in that direction, every obstacle overcome, every vice sup- 
pressed, is an incident of success. If by great physical 
force and indomitable will power we succeed in gaining the 
heights, but have left in our wake broken hearts, ruined 
hopes, pushing aside the weak and trampling upon the 
promising buds and tender blossoms — then our life is a 
failure even though our names are written high on fame's 
emblazoned scroll. 

There is nothing mutually helpful in post mortem 
kindness, for the eyes closed in their long sleep cannot see 
the beauty, nor the senses paralyzed in death inhale the 
fragrance of our offerings. Nor does the ear ever hear 
the honeyed words of our funeral eulogies. I would rather 
you would pluck and hand me while living the humble daisy 



138 Horace "Ward Bailey 

by the roadside, the honeysuckle from the tangle, the fern 
from the deep shade, than to know that I should be laid 
to rest pillowed in the choicest, rarest and sweetest flowers 
of a hemisphere; not because of the beauty of the offering, 
but that rather while living I might see and feel and ap- 
preciate the motive which prompted your gift. I would 
not deny you the pomp of a great funeral parade, with its 
attendant wealth of music, flowers, anthems and eulogies. 
Nevertheless, I wish to remind you of the solemn fact that 
perhaps just now some forsaken brother, some outcast 
sister, may be sinking for the last time, when perhaps a 
grasp of a friendly hand, a smile or a word of cheer would 
save them. Oh, why keep the chambers of our souls 
locked; why persist longer in carrying that grudge against 
our neighbor; why stay in the ruts leading to the downward 
path? Why not pull aside the curtains of the soul, lift 
the windows, open the doors and let in God's cheering and 
healing sunlight? Why not let in the music of the sea, 
the earth, and the sky? Then, and only then, shall those 
dark and narrow corridors of the inner life, so long shaded 
by hatred, ignorance, superstition, and ill-conceived 
notions of right, become broad, sunlit, flower-bedecked 
avenues leading upward toward the higher life. 

Sons of Veterans, upon you devolves the duty of 
perpetuity. You will be the chief auxiliary while the 
fathers remain. Upon you the Grand Army of the Re- 
public will lean more and more heavily as they wind their 
way down the western slopes with ever thinning ranks. 
You alone as an organization will be left to perpetuate the 
life, the memory, the last resting place of your noble sires. 

Veterans of the Spanish war, you were a part of the 
greatest and grandest events yet written into our nation's 



Public Addresses 139 

history. They were not great merely because of the sink- 
ing of the Maine, nor the remarkable feats of Vermont's 
gallant seamen, Dewey and Clark, nor the bottling up of 
Cervera's fleet at Santiago, nor the impetuous charges of 
the Rough Riders. But all these events, great in them- 
selves, were only mere incidents in America's humane work 
of lifting a depressed brotherhood out of the very slough 
of despond, of breaking the shackles of many centuries, 
and welding all, as history has well recorded, for humanity's 
sake. And the crowning glory of the war which you 
represent was the final and complete healing of the wounds 
of the sixties, the bringing together side by side of the Blue 
and the Gray — once fighting face to face, now standing 
shoulder to shoulder. In that campaign you saw a re- 
united country. You saw days of gloom and unrest while 
awaiting orders at Chickamauga. You experienced the 
inertia of a miserable camp life when marching orders 
would have been hailed with joy. I saw your regiment 
when you came back to the State camp ground, near Fort 
Ethan Allen. I saw sunken and pallid cheeks; I saw hollow 
and lusterless eyes; I saw weak and emaciated bodies. I 
looked into faces I had known from infancy without rec- 
ognizing them. Then, a little later, I saw these frail and 
fever stricken bodies laid low in their homes. For some 
life was hovering on the verge and for others the end soon 
came. I said to myself that even without grape and can- 
nister, without the din and roar of battle, war can indeed 
be hell. 

Members of the Vermont National Guard, like the 
Minute Men of '76 you are always ready for service. Your 
ranks were the nucleus of our civil war enlistments in Gen. 
Stannard's Floodwood regiment. So in the war with 



140 Horace Ward Bailey 

Spain the Vermont National Guard was not only the 
foundation, but a large part of the state's military super- 
structure in that sudden call to arms. May your num- 
bers never diminish nor your shadows lessen. 

Fraternal orders, one and all, I greet you. I know 
that I cannot speak amiss when I say in behalf of these 
veterans a word of welcome and hearty thanks. You do 
well in lending aid to these old soldiers in the public observ- 
ance of this day. Your orders stand for that kind of help- 
fulness that searches out those in distress, and reaches the 
under strata of a broad and deep brotherhood. There is 
balm and healing and comfort in your friendly ministra- 
tions. 

Members of the Woman's Relief Corps, you have 
walked hand in hand with these veterans. With them you 
have stood shoulder to shoulder, and side by side you have 
fought the battles of life. With them you are even now 
braving the storms, or perchance peacefully gliding down 
the decline towards the setting sun. As sharers of their 
burdens I am sure you will be faithful to the end. You 
remember the partings and the meetings. You remember 
those messages in the early days. First you saw the storm 
clouds and then you saw the sunshine. You will continue 
to march side by side with the Grand Army of the Repubhc 
until there shall be a meeting without a parting. 

Gentlemen of the Grand Army of the Republic, you 
belong to an organization which a hundred million free 
American citizens will remember with gratitude until the 
last one of you has answered the final roll call of the 
great Adjutant of the armies of all the earth. 

Citizens, we have a happy and reasonable duty to 
perform, and that is that just as long as true Americanism 



Public Addresses 141 

upholds the old flag we shall point with jealous pride to 
its stars and stripes and say that the Grand Army of the 
Republic made it possible. Then the greatest nation of 
them all shall rally round its blood-stained emblem, its 
banner of freedom, the token of a united country, and raise 
that glad refrain: 

"Stand by the flag, all doubt and danger scorning, 
Believe with courage firm and faith sublime 
That it will float until the eternal morning 
Pales in its glories all the lights of time." 



From the Address of Welcome to the Orange 
County Veterans Association. 

To speak in loyal terms of the land of one's nativity is 
patriotic, but I am particularly glad to speak to-day of a 
town noted for its war record. Eleven men lie in yonder 
burying ground who served in the old French war. The 
names of 110 men have been preserved who lived in New- 
bury during the Revolutionary war and served in the Con- 
tinental armies. Eighty of these men lie sleeping under 
Newbury's greensward. Forty men from this town 
answered to the roll call in the war of 1812 and 25 of them 
are now mingled with our dust. We have one veteran of 
the war with Mexico. To the war which you represent 
Newbury gave 236 men. Forty of them are buried here 
and there are 53 veterans now surviving. Orange county 
furnished 2492 soldiers for the Civil War — fathers, sons and 
brothers. While countless numbers of your comrades fell 
dead by your sides, their identity forever swallowed up 
in the loathsome trenches of the battlefields, and in those 



142 Horace Ward Bailey 

vast cities of the dead where row upon row and tier upon 
tier of white slabs bear the sohtary inscription, " Unknown," 
— ^you emerged from the smoke of battle, the clash of arms, 
the heat and cold of exposure, having weathered the storms, 
enjoying the sunshines of thirty years with the well-earned 
title of veteran. And it is for this reason that this people 
extend to you today the right hand of fellowship. * * * 
And now, soldiers and citizens, let us erect a monu- 
ment to those of whom it can well be said: 

"The bugle's wild and warlike blast 
Shall muster them no more; 
An army might now thunder past, 
And they not heed its roar. 

"The starry flag 'neath which they fought. 
In many a bloody day; 
From their graves shall rouse them not. 
For they have passed away." 

One of the few after-dinner speeches of Mr. Bailey's 
that has been preserved is fortunately the best one he ever 
made. By invitation of Judge Fish he was one of the at- 
tendants at the Vergennes celebration during the tercen- 
tenary functions of the celebration of the discovery of Lake 
Champlain in the summer of 1909. The banquet in the 
Vergennes City Hall on the evening of Monday, July 5, 
was the closing feature of a most successful occasion, Mr. 
Bailey being one of the speakers. Commissioner Bailey 
responded to the toast, "The Two Commissions" and in 
presenting the speaker Toastmaster Fish said, "We have 
saved the best until the last. The Toast 'The Two Com- 
missions' will be responded to by my dear friend and fellow 
commissioner, Hon. Horace W. Bailey." The speaker 
said: 



Public Addresses 143 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I am aware that it is unconventional to appear at a 
function of this kind with a manuscript roll of poem-oration 
and dignified speech. But when one's physical machinery 
is at discord, so that the tongue refuses to speak the things 
that the mind had thought out, and insists on rambling in 
fields never explored; and when that great educator, the 
press, and that lightning transmitter of events called gossip, 
sometimes hand out the very precise things you say, the 
fair conclusion is that it is safer and more comfortable to 
write down your thoughts on a bulletin board, in the 
seclusion of your closet, and bring the board along with 
you. This is especially true of all extemporaneous effort. 

Mr. Toastmaster, do you not recall an experience in 
your own political career when called upon to preside at a 
notable gathering; how you accepted with profound mod- 
esty, and immediately, without forethought or a moment's 
preparation, launched into a speech on which you had spent 
weeks of careful, painstaking labor; which you had written 
out with elaboration, and committed to your treacherous 
memory; and, Mr. Toastmaster, do you not remember how 
you sailed into that speech, and that while in the very 
midst of its most excellent and eloquent delivery, the 
foundation of the world suddenly sank away from you and 
left you floating and flapping in nebulous mid air, until a 
friendly trade wind came along and caught your widely 
unfurled sail. Since then, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have 
had a mortal dread of carefully prepared extemporaneous 
speeches, which have been committed to memory, if the 
bulletin board is left at home. 

Had I been asked to speak for the United States, or 
even one of them — our own beloved Vermont, for instance 



144 Horace Ward Bailey 

— the subject would have been so wide and diversified, and 
subject to such lightning changes, I would have left my 
bulletin board at home, and waded in pell mell, hit or miss. 
I would be right more than half the time. 

If one should meet with a head-on collision in saying 
a few words for the church, no matter, for the principal 
article in their bill of rights is forgiveness; the greater the 
offense, the quicker and more effectuallj'' the remedy is 
applied. 

If one should be called upon to parade the heroes of 
another age, he could leave his bulletin board at home, and 
with safety eulogize or criticize ad infinitum, for they are 
dead. 

If a knight of the press should be called up to respond 
for his craft, and by a fatal lapse of memory, fall from dizzy 
heights to eternal smash, his brethren would have him 
forgiven before he had touched bottom, and such resplen- 
dent obsequies would be promulgated that could the poor 
wrecked brother know, and realize the true conditions, he 
would wish he had always been dead. 

But when one commissioner is asked to respond for 
two commissions made up of seventeen men, all alive and 
kicking, all competent to speak for themselves, you can 
easily comprehend the gravity of the situation, and the 
importance of bringing along the bulletin board. 

The first commission had a real live governor at its 
head; so did the second; both popular, fairly energetic; 
both determined that the commissioners should work nights 
as well as days, and both terribly insistent that the interims 
should be devoted to the harvesting of a job lot of vouchers 
for sundry incidental expenses. When I state that these 
two commissions, in addition to having two real Governors, 



Public Addresses 145 

have a membership composed of candidates for that office, 
the schedule of age being apphed to the rule of priority, 
you will, dear friends, appreciate my embarassment. 

When you are advised that the two commissions are 
made up of a Doctor of Divinity, a Doctor of Laws, the 
manager of a great railway system, a historian, a college 
professor, a college president — a real live one, too — a pro- 
moter of historic celebrations, several newspaper men, a 
lawyer and ex-government ofRcial, an ex-mayor of Vermont's 
Queen City, several business men, men who have held 
office, men who do hold office, and men who want to hold 
office, a high salaried postmaster, and one poor lone suffer- 
ing lal^oring man, all dissimilar, ail guilty of having some 
pronounced ideas, which they have sometimes expressed in 
unadorned Enghsh; you will, I am sure, offer prayers for 
the disconsolate mortal selected to represent them. 

This great Champlain celebration had its inception in 
the Legislature of 1906 in the form of a joint resolution 
presented, and championed, by your esteemed townsman, 
Robert W. McCuen, a member of the first commission. 
It is therefore exceedingly fitting that Vergennes should 
hold an opening celebration, and set the ponderous ma- 
chinery of a week of great events in motion. 

From the time of the appointment of our first com- 
mission in the fall of 1906 the history of our doings is an 
open book, known and read and criticised of all men. We 
have gone about our duty in a semi-conscientious way, 
spending the State's money in as lavish a manner as cir- 
cumstances and the procurement of vouchers would permit* 
We have traveled over much of the country between Hud- 
son Bay and the Potomac river, and as far west as the 
Great Lakes, the points of the triangle being located at 

(10) 



146 Horace Ward Bailey 

Ottawa, Washington and Buffalo. We have held con- 
ferences with, and been dined and wined (on tea), by Presi- 
dents, Senators, Members of Congress, Members of the 
Cabinet, Governors, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ambassa- 
dors, Uncle Joe Cannon, and Nelson W. Fisk. 

New York has had two commissions. Of the first 
Gov. Hughes was chairman. The New York commission 
was made up of her foremost citizens, lawyers, financiers, 
and business men, the best product of a great state. The 
larger items of the Champlain celebration were arranged 
for, and worked out, by the New York and Vermont com- 
missions operating in unison; hence many meetings and 
conferences have been held jointly. 

We now stand on the very threshold of a week's cele- 
bration of historic and patriotic events; the result of New 
York and Vermont brains and money, which will go down 
in history unparalleled in our annals. 

We have found these New York commissioners cour- 
teous gentlemen, excellent entertainers, and, as you may 
surmise, trotting in a class in which Vermonters rarely 
enter. 

We have done our duty as we have understood it. 
We have always agreed, except when we disagreed. We 
have had some narrow escapes. 

I am confident that if the two Vermont commissions 
could have been convened to take action on this Vergennes 
event, they would have instructed their delegate to convey 
to you their high appreciation of the independent, business- 
like way that you have gone about this celebration, without 
demand on our scanty appropriation, and the successful 
and satisfactory execution of your program. 

The two commissions suggest this sentiment: Here 



Public Addresses 147 

is to the boys of Vermont who are as firm, as strong and 
rugged as her everlasting hills and mountain peaks; as 
clean and wholesome as her sparkling mountain streams, 
and far less verdant than her magnificent deep-hued moun- 
tain foliage — they are the men of tomorrow. 

And here is to the girls of Vermont, and we have seen 
a splendid specimen of them to-day — a little finer grained 
and more aesthetic than her boys; sweeter than her honey- 
suckles baptized in the evening dews; more fragrant and 
far more beautiful than her morning glories kissed by the 
first rays of God's mellow sunlight o'er the eastern hills — 
they are the women of tomorrow. 

May both become as intellectual as the scholars who 
have adorned the fair page of our history; as pure in heart 
and as honest in motive as the long line of sturdy ances- 
tors who carved homes out of this wilderness park, fresh 
from the hands of the Creator; as able and willing to work, 
and work, and work, as were the fathers and mothers; never 
content until they shall have accomplished more, and done 
it better, than they who have gone before. 

May they, and we, remember and emulate all that was 
good and pure and progressive in the character and ex- 
ploits of that great Frenchman, Samuel Champlain, who, 
three hundred years ago, was the first Caucasian man of 
record to see and to sail the waters of our charming inland 
sea, and to give to it his own historic name ; who surrounded 
by a primeval race looked out upon the primeval forests 
of our beloved State; and whose achievements have this 
day been commemorated together with a proper and fitting 
observance of the heroic exploits of men who made victory 
possible in the war of 1812, in which great drama manj^ a 
scene was enacted within bugle call of this banquet place. 



148 Horace Ward Bailey 

You of Addison county, and especially you of Ver- 
gennes, have this day gone on record ^^dth a matchless 
celebration in perpetuation of many of the great events 
of our early history. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the two commissions are proud 
of you. Vermont will be proud of you. An event like 
this, woven from the warp and woof of Addison county 
men and women, inspired by your purse and by your 
patriotism, could not fail. 

Redfield Proctor, the Man. 

At the Proctor memorial service held in the Congrega- 
tional church in Rutland Mr. Bailey summed up the per- 
sonal qualities of the deceased Senator in the following 
remarkable address on ''Redfield Proctor, the Man:" 

If what Dry den says is true, " That the best evidence 
of character is a man's whole life," we may suggest that a 
public career is only auxiliary to the real man. 

Great and true and noble as was the public life of our 
departed friend, there was something over it all, above it 
and beyond it that endeared him to us as a fellow citizen, 
and that was Redfield Proctor, the man. 

An exceptionally splendid public career, from his 
young manhood days and along up through his many use- 
ful years, has now been left behind as a monument to mark 
his unsullied reputation as a chosen representative and 
leader of the people; but shorn of all the renown folIo%\dng 
in the wake of high position we have left for our happy 
contemplation, Redfield Proctor, the man. 

Wealth, high social position and a calling to the council 
chamber of the greatest nation on earth does not necessarily 
generate the elements in human nature that make one 



Public Addresses 149 

person love another and gravitate in that direction, but 
rather there is that indefinable, unspeakable something 
which reaches out into our inner life and draws us nearer 
with resistless force; an abundance of these nameless 
unplaceable qualities, unseen forces, made Redfield Proctor, 
the man. Born in the midst of these green hills, he loved 
them so well and communed with them so faithfully and 
worshiped in nature's great temple so devotedly, that 
there grew into his very life a Puritanic stalwartness of 
character, broadness of vision, an enlarged, benevolent, 
and kindly disposition, that made him your friend and 
mine, on short acquaintance — and that was Redfield 
Proctor, the man. 

Boy nor girl, rich nor poor, nor race, nor rank, nor 
creed, were estopped from his presence, nor left it except 
to feel that a new-found friend had entered to abide. I 
do not stand upon this platform to laud to the skies our 
departed friend as faultless, without mistake or void of 
error. But I do stand here tonight to say that when I 
entered his committee-room or apartments at the nation's 
capitol or his favorite lodge on yonder mountain peak, 
or his plain, substantial New England home in our sister 
village, even tho that visit was the first one and of short 
duration, there crept insiduously, and almost unconsciously, 
into my very soul a feeling that I was at home and com- 
muning with a friend, yea, an elder brother, a father, and 
many of you, my friends, have had a like experience — 
and that was Redfield Proctor, the man. 

A typical Vermonter, a real Yankee with that some- 
what rare temperament in great public men which kept 
him from soaring above the common people from which he 
originated, and in the midst of great cares and burdens 



150 Horace Ward Bailey 

beneath which the ordinary man would have fallen, he 
was kind, jovial and patient. Unlike many of Vermont's 
great men, he was not a so-called specialist, but rather a 
broad-gauged, even-poised, modest yet self-reliant and 
courageous all-around man, who was a real specialist, 
successful in any department without seeming to know it. 
That was Redfield Proctor, the man. 

He, whose life we here and now commemorate and 
whose death we deeply mourn, had climbed the heights 
until he could see a horizon bounded by a circle much 
larger than has greeted the vision of many men; climbed 
high enough so that from the perennial fountain of life he 
had drunk into every fiber of his great noble being the 
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and in 
turn had diffused and shed abroad from his generous soul, 
that storehouse of remarkable capacity, deeds of human 
kindness and helpfulness with such a lavish hand that we 
shall never forget Redfield Proctor, the man. 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 151 



CHAPTER IX. 
MR. BAILEY AS A JOURNALIST. 

From his youth until the last year of his life Mr. 
Bailey was a continuous contributor to the newspapers of 
Vermont. For about a dozen years he contributed weekly 
from one to two columns from Newbury to the Bradford 
Opinion, and in the later years of his life he conducted a 
similar column in the Groton Times. Not satisfied with 
this regular work he would write articles whenever the 
spirit moved to other papers in the State and it is from 
such articles that much of the material of this book was 
obtained. In his Newbury column in the local papers was 
often original editorial matter, several specimens of which 
appear in the pages that follow. . Particularly in the latter 
part of his life he employed his spare time in enriching 
our literature with historical contributions or writing for 
some paper his observations upon the topics of the day. 
There are at least a dozen papers in the State whose col- 
umns have been enriched by his writings and occasionally 
he contributed to some of them an editorial of exceptional 
pertinence and value. 

A Trip Through Crawford Notch. 

Mr. Bailey's earliest contribution to the press appeared 
in a letter to the Bradford Opinion when he was a clerk 
at the Fabyan House in the White Mountains. It was 
written in September, 1877, and was a most graphic 
description of a trip through the White Mountain Notch: 

A trip through the Crawford Notch during the present 
month is better seen than described. To see Nature 



152 Horace Ward Bailey 

superlative in its beauty and grandeur can onlj'- be realized 
by sight; imagination can never be wrought up to that 
degree fully to comprehend its magnificence. A ride in an 
observation car on the P. & 0. railroad through the Notch 
is always first on the program of every pleasure seeker. 
The beautiful tints of foliage, heightened by the glow of 
the setting sun, the deep shadows of the mountains reach- 
ing far into the valleys below, the swift morning cloud 
shadows climbing from valley to hill and from hill to 
mountain, all viewed while passing through the air, seem- 
ingly with no visible means of support, create an awe- 
inspiring feeling which the pen wielded by no mortal 
power can describe. He who passes off the stage without 
beholding this scene A\ith the natural eye loses the grand- 
est chapter in God's own textbook. 

The Vocation of a Newspaper Correspondent. 

(From the Opinion July 26, 1895.) 

There probably never was and never will be a branch 
of business fraught with so many grand possibilities as 
the vocation of a newspaper correspondent. A local 
itemizer, so to speak, at once puts himself in touch with 
the community which he represents. He is supposed to be 
largely acquainted with everybody's business. He is 
even expected to enter the sacred domain of the home and 
shake out to public gaze and criticism matters of domestic 
interest. He must also have an attentive ear for all per- 
sons who wish to give their neighbors a dig, and get all the 
glory and credit, while the person giving the dig smiles 
in serene innocence. He must also praise and curse. It 
is his especial forte to attend funerals, hear about weddings 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 153 

and give notice of all special meetings. He must have an 
eye out for new barns, babies and general improvements. 
Visitors comJng and going must register at his office. He 
must attain the faculty of praising all local improvements, 
encouraging local talent and diffusing oil everywhere. 
He must get into a large variety of circumstances which 
tend to make life joyous and worth living. He must get 
into little newspaper squabbles with other correspondents, 
which also sweetens life. Then, too, he acquires the habit 
of regularity, which is beneficial. His whole course is a 
guantlet of roses and Aeolian harps. Such has been a part 
of the Nev\'bur3' correspondent's experience. Fifteen or 
twenty years of observation as a local itemizer has taught 
him that there are others in a community (and sometimes 
in an adjoining town) who would also taste the joys of an 
itemizer. This is as it should be. Invitations have often 
been extended to neighbors, friends and mourners to do 
itemizing for the Newbury column, and it has been done 
to the joy and credit of the regular correspondent, for which 
we are truly grateful. There have also appeared occasion- 
ally items of a personal nature within the sacred precincts 
of the Newbury column, which have drawn down upon the 
head of the regular correspondent rich blessing, etc., etc. 
Believing that unselfishness is an ingredient which should 
largely enter into the composition of every regular corres- 
pondent, we have concluded to cease reaping the glories 
which belong to others. Therefore, if the Editor is willing, 
from this time forward if the regular Newbury corres- 
pondent writes items for the Newbury column they will 
appear first in the column. A dark line thus 



154 Horace Ward Bailey 

will appear, and below it will be found the items written 
by other itemizers. Then reportorial honors will fall where 
they belong. 

On Religious Subjects. 

During the time of a great revival in Newbury Mr. 
Bailey contributed the following to the Newbury column 
of the Bradford Opinion, giving an insight into the deep 
religious nature of the man : 

We do not believe, as has been suggested, that these 
persons who have determined to lead a different and better 
life need fortify themselves against the sneers and scoffs 
of their schoolmates, associates and friends, not any! 
Positively no. You who have so recently taken this step, 
if by your acts from this time on you demonstrate that you 
mean what you have said in taking upon yourselves those 
grandly solemn obligations, you need look to the world 
at large for nothing more than their admiration, and their 
God-speed-you. It may be unmethodistic to deny and 
unorthodox to assert a disbelief in the total depravity of 
the human heart, but so far as one mortal is concerned the 
denial and assertion are hereby made. The community 
at large rejoice with pastor, church and converts. 

In reporting a series of missionary meetings in New- 
bury Mr. Bailey endorses foreign missions in no uncertain 
words in his weekly letter to the Bradford Opinion as 
follows : 

These men are holding meetings during the months of 
February and March in several of the churches of the state, 
with the design of awakening a new interest in missionary 
work, and cannot fail in accomplishing their design. It 
is inconceivable that any Christian person, or any person 



Mr, Bailey as a Journalist 155 

of ordinary intelligence, can allow such occasions to pass 
without giving them due attention, or without profound 
interest in them when they do. The time has come when 
one must keep abreast of the missionary aspiration of the 
age, in order to be in sympathy with the enterprises of 
civilization and humanity. 

A literary entertainment having been held in the Con- 
gregational church in Newbury, Mr. Bailey endorses the 
use of the meeting house in his weekly letter in no uncertain 
terms : 

To what better use, next to preaching, could the doors 
of any meeting house be opened? May the precedent 
now established never fail; let this sort of hospitality alter- 
nate between the meeting house and the schoolhouse. 



I have had more or less comfort in the last quarter of 
a century writing local items for newspapers. Sandwiched 
in with the comforts have been some discomforts; one of 
the principal ones of the latter class is fathering some other 
person's items. People who read the Times have a right 
to suppose that I am the author of the Newbury column. 
So I am, and in self-defense I shall hereafter attach my 
initials thus, "H. W. B." and my items will appear first in 
the column. If friend or foe wishes to try a hand at itemiz- 
ing, they are more than welcome to the Newbury column 
so far as I am concerned, but not as a child of my adop- 
tion. 

Groton Times, November 16, 1900. 

That Mr. Bailey's long interest in the Methodist 
church did not pass unnoticed is evidenced from this New- 
bury item which appeared in his column in the Groton 



156 Horace Ward Bailey 

Times in a report of the Christmas tree festivities of the 
holiday season of 1900: 

The most agreeable and complete surprise of the even- 
ing was the presentation of the name quilt, recently on 
exhibition at the Willing Workers' Fair in Grange hall, 
to Horace W. Bailey as a token of appreciation for his 
kindness to the church. Mr. Bailey does not beheve that 
kindness or helpfulness to a church ought to be rewarded. 
He believes that there is a moral obligation which goes 
along with good citizenship, the execution of which is a 
pleasure. Nevertheless he accepts this unlooked for and 
undeserved token from the donors with sincere thanks, 
appreciating the spirit which prompted the gift. It will 
be a much valued souvenir of a happy and long-to-be- 
remembered event. 

Camp Meeting — The Old and the New. 

In the notice for the annual camp meeting of the St. 
Johnsbury District in the summer of 1905 the Presiding 
Elder announced that a new feature would be the -op- 
portunity for recreation, several hours through the week 
being reserved for croquet, tennis, base ball and golf. 
This innovation ehcited the follov/ing comment from the 
Newbury correspondent of the Groton Times : 

Shades of Elder Haynes, H. A. Spencer and P. N. 
Granger ! 

Take along your euchre deck, poker chips and fishing 
tackle, and be ready for any kind of a dispensation. Metho- 
dist camp meetings and the games of a strenuous age seem 
to be about neck and neck, and if the next 25 years note 
changes equal to the last quarter century a Methodist 
camp meeting will be only an incident, an auxiliary, a sort 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 157 

of side issue to a great tournament of national sports. 
Then umpires with a grand homologous diploma will be in 
demand to sort the one from the other. This, indeed, is 
an age of evolution. Newburj^ against Groton at foot 
ball; Lunenburg vs. Hardwick at golf; St. Johnsbury sit- 
ting down with Sheffield on a rainy day at authors, crokinole 
and seven-up, with whist, euchre and dominoes for alter- 
nates. East Haven putting on the boxing gloves with 
West Burke. Oh! Avhat will the harvest be? 

Memorial Day. 

The annual arrival of Memorial Day always stirred 
the patriotic blood in Mr. Bailey and he often wrote short 
editorials on these occasions. Here are two of the best 
which appeared in the Groton Times: 

Memorial Day is again with us, and the beautiful 
patriotic custom of honoring the Nation's dead will be 
sacredly observed in every hamlet of the Republic. The 
proper observance of Memorial Day becomes more and 
more a sacred duty of the children of this nation. Each 
year as the ranks of the veterans grow thinner and their 
steps more feeble, the more it becomes the cherished duty 
of the children to honor those who gave the best of noble 
manhood that they of today might enjoy this great and 
freedom-loving country. Thus each year we reverence 
and honor the living and dead of that great and Grand 
Army who made enduring that principle of freedom upon 
which the Republic was founded. So long as this nation 
shall stand will the children and children's children observe 
this day with that patriotism, love of home and country, 
that called the fathers to battle in the days of the great 
Civil War. 



158 Horace Ward Bailey 

When we see these veterans together, many of them 
suffering from wounds or disease incident to the service, and 
turn back the pages of time to the records they made when 
leaving home and loved ones they went forth to battle for 
the freedom we now enjoy, our hearts beat out the grati- 
tude, love and veneration in which we hold them. While 
the living veteran invokes in our breast those principles of 
patriotism, love of country, noble deeds of daring, showing 
us how these loyal hearts responded to the country's call 
for help, yet there is the hushed silence of thousands peace- 
fully sleeping the "bivouac of the dead," who speak to us 
in a language more eloquent than tongue can tell of the 
noble lives sacrificed that coming generations might enjoy 
the blessings of an undivided country. No fitting tribute 
can be paid them. We may write their names on the 
fairest pages of history; we may pay them the most elo- 
quent tribute language can form; we may cover their graves 
with immortelles, but all would fade in comparison with 
the life that went out amid the carnage of battle or the 
suffering of sickness. So on each Memorial daj^ no effort 
should be withheld to make the day commemorate their 
deeds of valor and show how a grateful country honors 
her heroic dead. 

Merry Christmas. 

The season's greetings in 1905 were thus happily ex- 
pressed by the Newbury correspondent of the Bradford 
Opinion in its issue of December 27 : 

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the 
readers of the Newbury column. We do not know what the 
world has in store for us and it is well that we do not. One 
thing, however, is in store for us of which I am positively 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 159 

sure, viz, plenty of opportunities to do better and to be 
better. There are a multiplicity of ways to accomplish this 
end. We cannot enumerate them; they are legion. We 
can say fewer mean things of our neighbors, and come to 
think it over it would be better to say nothing ill of anyone. 
The tongue is an unruly member, and its unnecessary^ 
flipperty-flop makes us endless trouble. We might oftener 
say cheerful and encouraging words to our fellowmen. 
The little lifts in life, the giving of which does not im- 
poverish us, may serve as rays of sunshine piercing over- 
hanging clouds and making a mortal being happy. The 
meanest selfishness I have ever encountered is the withhold- 
ing of cheerful words from a struggling brother. I have 
practiced that kind myself, and I have had it practiced on 
me. It's an accursed thing. Then there is for us in the 
future a great enemy to overcome, viz, hypocrisy. Let 
us make fewer pretensions to goodness and more actual 
"ten strikes." Let us see if we cannot choke down some 
of that sickly sentimental "I am holier than thou" crop 
that has got such a remarkable growth. I was recently 
told an incident in connection with a revival in another part 
of Newbury. A brother who had long professed to be a 
Christian had got wonderfully awakened and desired the 
last grand crowning capsheaf of religion, namely, sanctifica- 
tion. He stood up and asked the prayers of his brethren. 
Soon after this, while this heavenly desire of sanctification 
rested upon him, he gathered from the roadside and locked 
in his shop a few edgings that had been used for piling 
boards, given by the owner to a destitute widow, so desti- 
tute that the neighbors had contributed wood from their 
own sheds to keep her from suffering. And he wanted to 
be sanctified! His claim to the edgings was that they had 



160 Horace Ward Bailey 

been piled on his land. He wanted to be sanctified, and 
the lumber was piled within the highway. Sanctified, 
indeed! No doubt we may have edgings locked up in our 
shops. If so, let us during the coming year carry the edg- 
ings back to the widow. In a thousand ways we have 
locked up the edgings. Let us then remember that no 
time in 1896 can we grasp the poor widow by the throat, 
and while choking the life out of her, howl for sanctifica- 
tion and expect satisfactory results. Let us not mock 
God by even expecting sanctification until we have carried 
the edgings back to the widow. 

The Bradford Guard.s. 

When in the spring of 1898 the Vermont National 
Guard were at muster at the state encampment in Col- 
chester, Mr. Bailey was the first visitor that the Bradford 
Guards (Company G) entertained. Mr. Bailey found 
among the Newbury boys in this Company six direct 
descendants of Gen. Jacob Bayley of Revolutionary fame, 
and other descendants of fighting stock. Commenting 
on his visit he writes the Bradford Opinion : 

I am proud of the Bradford Guards, officers and 
men. Don't worry about your boys, your brothers, your 
husbands. They are enlisted in the cause of God and 
humanity; they are in good company. As I looked over 
that vast field of white tents and saw the many squads 
practicing the m.anual of arms, and heard the bugle calls, 
I was proud of Vermont and her troops. I am proud of 
her history from the first. As I looked upon this match- 
less panorama of activity, this business-like preparation 
for the sterner realities of war, I said to myself, "Into the 
hands of these vigorous, intellectual Vermonters, Vermont 
can commit her time-honored patriotism with safety." 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 161 

First Night at a Basket Ball Game. 

Mr, Bailey's first night at a basket ball game is thus 
picturesquely described in his Newbury column in the 
Bradford Opinion of April 21, 1899: 

We have seen a game of real basket ball and it was 
like watching a three-ring circus. The St. Johnsbury 
boys came down on Saturday night and taught our boys how 
basket ball is played in a classical town. Such a homo- 
geneous mixture of boy it was never our good fortune to 
witness before. Basket ball is the legitimate offspring of 
football and is a great improvement over its daddy; be- 
cause 1st, it's indoors where visitors can be seated; 2nd, 
it doesn't have such long hair; 3d, it is of shorter duration; 
4th, clothing is scarcer; 5th, chin music is entirely dispensed 
with. We lost interest in the game by reason of being too 
much absorbed in determining which was Newbury and 
which was St. Johnsbury. A mother would have to be 
twice as quick as electricity to pick out her own dear boy. 
We never saw so many arms and legs for so few boys. 
Basket ball players would be connoisseurs in the corraling 
of wild bronchos in the woolly west. I can't judge as to 
the merits of that game, but believe it was well played and 
no one was killed. The Newbury boys, always courteous 
in contests with visitors, allowed the St. Johnsbury team 
to have a plurality of scores. Both teams were gentlemen 
and I have never witnessed an entertainment so well cal- 
culated to make an audience forget every other tribulation. 

The Mary Rogers Case and Capital 
Punishment. 

In the winter of 1905 Mary Rogers was hanged at our 
State Prison after most strenuous efforts had been made 

(11) 



162 Horace Ward Bailey 

to have Gov. Bell stay the sentence of the woman convicted 
of a most brutal murder. Mr. Bailey's comment on a case 
which attracted attention far beyond the borders of the 
state, appears in a letter in the Rutland Evening News of 
Dec. 15, 1905: 

The Mary Rogers affair from start to finish was un- 
fortunate, unhappy and deplorable. A lower bred woman, 
I believe, with dearth of womanly traits, never lived. She 
was not insane in the common acceptance of the term, but 
she was morally diseased beyond any words found in my 
vocabulary to express. This, I am aware, is a terrible 
arraignment of a fellow human being, but it is made in 
a spirit of pity rather than derision, after a careful examina- 
tion of her case during my stay at the State Prison. In 
her death hour she met her fate like an ox. She main- 
tained the same dearth of womanhood en route to her 
gruesome end as she has exhibited since she came to pub- 
lic view. It was not bravery, as we understand bravery, 
but a complete absence of the finer fibres of human nature . 
I do not harshly criticise the law which for certain crimes 
compels unwilling hands to kill a human being. I hope 
to live to see a period of one decade, at least, with the ter- 
rible capital punishment off our statute book. The action 
of Governor Bell under all existing circumstances is most 
commendable. 

The Rutland Herald of July 15, 1909, having an- 
nounced that Mr. Bailey had informed his friends that he 
intended giving Middlebury College a large sum of money, 
he replied to the interviewer seeking more information, that 
he would like to give this amount to such a worthy institu- 
tion provided he had it to give. 

After Mr. Bailey was elected a member of the 1902 
Legislature from Newbury his name was quite favorably 



Me, Bailey as a Journalist 163 

mentioned as Speaker of the House. In visiting Mont- 
pelier before the session a Journal reporter asked him how 
he happened to be elected representative in the midst of 
such a turbulent campaign as the recent one. His reply 
was that he could not tell unless it was because he kept 
quiet and did no work, having been defeated in any poli- 
tical project for which he did work. Asked concerning 
the Speakership, Mr. Bailey neither denied nor affirmed 
the report, but stated that he believed he would have the 
support of the counties in his section of the State. He 
did not feel competent to take the helm in the House dur- 
ing the prospective riot in the Legislature, but it was his 
opinion that Hon. John H. Merrifield of Newfane would 
be the most competent man of any whom he knew for this 

office. 

Arbor Day. 

Commenting on Gov. McCullough's Arbor Day 
proclamation in the spring of 1903 he writes the Groton 
Times : 

Wise words fitly spoken. Let us take heed and carry 
out these reasonable suggestions of our Chief Executive. 
While our forests are being hewn down and the strong 
arm of commerce is being lifted against the primeval woods 
and her generations, we may, in a measure, recuperate 
and replenish our waste places. We may beautify our 
villages, our church and school yards, and our homes. 
Let us observe Arbor Day and keep Vermont's reputa- 
tion good for cleanliness, thrift and beauty. 

A Newbury Town Meeting. 

For many years Mr, Bailey served as moderator of 
the annual March meeting and some of these gatherings 
were prolonged and stormy affairs, as many a resident of 
the town can readily recall. The 1899 March meeting was 



164 Horace Ward Bailey 

harmonious in its deliberations and is racily described in 
the Newbury column in the Groton Times as follows: 

Although a howling storm swept the dreary open waste 
of territory in the vicinity of the Town House on March 
meeting day, inside the ancient landmark of a Town House 
all was warm, snug and smoky. So warm and snug that 
Moderator Bailey disrobed and operated in his shirt sleeves 
and frequently mopped perspiration, but he moderated 
just the same, put the business through on fast express 
time and adjourned at 3 p. m. 

Uncle John Kendrick, as usual, orated at considerable 
length and the subject of his oration was matters of the 
Town Farm, instead of the usual time worn and gray- 
bearded road machine, and its ancient twin relic, the snow 
roller, but Uncle Kendrick's effort to knock out the Over- 
seer was just about as successful as the so-called Imperialists 
are in their effort to make the people beheve that the 
Philippines are a prize package. People will learn that 
when they desire to knock out a man like Overseer George 
they must use different tools and a better quality of am- 
munition. 

Harry Huntington, the man in charge of the poor 
farm, was represented in various matters by Lawyer Lang, 
who lives in Newbury and has an office in Woodsville. 
He is a great talker and presented his client's affairs in a 
cool, deliberate, straightforward manner, but the people 
did not think so, and put him out in the first inning. Will 
Ferry started in a bombardment on the town history ques- 
tion. He poised his battery, used good powder and ob- 
served the tactics of a West Pointer, but he failed to con- 
nect, and the Town History came through without even 
hospital experience. It developed that Road Commis- 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 165 

sioner Bailey had not stolen even so much as one horse 
from the town, neither had he accumulated the time-hon- 
ored overdraft, so his calling and re-election were made 
sure and easy. 

The town rum question was decided by a hand vote, 
and, as is probably true in nine-tenths of Vermont towns, 
those in favor of an agency to dispense medicine were in 
the majority. Some patriots in the meeting conceived 
the great idea of economy in town officers, so made it 
obligatory on town officers to work for two dollars per day 
and pay their own expenses. This may look like bright 
financiering, but in the aggregate it is "penny wise and 
pound foolish." 

A noon recess was enjoyed by two hundred persons, 
eating, drinking, smoking, electioneering and exchanging 
lies. This was the first recess ever enjoyed in a Newbury 
town meeting. Uncle Peach, the Esquire of Jefferson Hill, 
was on deck with colors flying, and administered the oath 
of office to Town Clerk Silsby with great dignity and pre- 
cision. 

Some Characteristic Utterances. 

Mr. Bailey's strong belief in woman's suffrage was 
once publicly stated in these crisp words: 

I believe sex should not be a bar against equal suf- 
frage; and that the ballot should be put within the reach 
of woman whether she demands it or not. 

Just before the Spanish-American war Mr. Bailey 
gave voice to the sentiment of a good many Americans 
when he wrote in his weekly news letter: 

We have feasted long enough on the disgusting, un- 
civilized offering of war news from the blood-drenched 



166 Horace Ward Bailey 

little island of Cuba, and Americans will hail vsdth delight 
the day when our own country will spread its great hand 
of peace over its nearby famished little sister. 

After his visit to the State Prison at Windsor he 
wrote with a humorous vein as follows: 

The superintendent tells us that a very large per cent 
of the inmates become so attached to the institution that 
they remain for quite a long term of years, and a few re- 
main during life. This speaks volumes for the institution 
and its surroundings. 

Of Rev. H. T. Barnard's Memorial Day address at 
Newbury in 1896 Mr. Bailey writes. 

Devoid of the war whoop of the average Memorial 
Day orator, it was a clear, concise and eloquent statement 
of fact, showing the proper relation of the citizen to the 
country, and the essentials of true citizenship and the 
fundamentals of true Americanism. The speaker lifted 
out of politics the great questions of the day and placed 
them one over the other, crowning the whole with the 
Stars and Stripes. It was the greatest chapter of manly, 
patriotic sentiment ever spoken to a Newbury audience. 

Introduction to "A Narrative of the 
Captivity of Mrs. Johnson." 

The following introduction was written by Mr. Bailey 
to the edition of this history published by the Huntting 
Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1907: 

A word in regard to the settlements in the Connecticut 
Valley antedating the time of the opening of the narra- 
tive of the captivity of Mrs. Johnson will clear the way for 
a better understanding of the story. 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 167 

The upper Connecticut Valley and the State of Ver- 
mont were never the permanent abiding place of an Indian 
tribe. Indian families often found the rich unwooded 
interval lands in the valley convenient and comfortable 
squatting places for a season or two at a time, and at such 
times the soil was cultivated, chiefly for the growing of 
corn. The valley of the Connecticut River and the Lake 
Champlain Valley, or rather the river and the lake them- 
selves, were Indian highways for two centuries, beginning 
with the advent of the French into Canada under the 
master hand of Samuel Champlain, during the opening 
years of the seventeenth century. The history of these 
two great highways of the early days bristles with accounts 
of bloody attacks and counter attacks made by the French 
and Algonquins on the north, the English and Iroquois 
on the south. The story of the wanton cruelties of these 
attacks, of the burning and pillaging of homes, the capture 
and often the savage murder of helpless women and inno- 
cent children, makes a tale of horrors too revolting, too 
inhuman, to be included in the annals of civilized warfare. 
By the close of 1636, settlements were well under way at 
Weathersfield, Windsor, Hartford, and Springfield, in the 
lower valley, with a total population of about one thou- 
sand. Then followed the stern, rugged push of settlement 
up both sides of the river in Massachusetts. A forge 
ahead into the wilds, then a surging back to the more 
populous and better fortified settlements, was the pro- 
cedure for many years. The French Crown granted 
seigniories, and the English Crown charters, with profli- 
gacy, but the story of taking, holding, and keeping the 
land was written in blood. 

Up to 1723, Northfield in Massachusetts, which in- 



168 Horace Ward Bailey 

eluded what is now Hinsdale in New Hampshire and 
Vernon in Vermont (all then supposed to be within the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts), was the outpost of civiliza- 
tion in the valley. Fort Dummer, now Brattleboro, be- 
came the outpost in 1724, The site of the Old Fort is now 
marked by a granite monument which is situated a mile 
south of the Brattleboro station, and about 50 rods easterly 
from, and within plain sight of, the railroad. Fort Dum- 
mer, with the settlement eathered about it, held the honor 
of outpost until 1740. Here was the birthplace of Colonel 
John Sargent, the first white person born in Vermont 
(1732). In 1740, a few families struggled on up the river 
to Charlestown, New Hampshire (No. 4), and Old No. 4 
held the outpost honor until the settlement in 1762, of New- 
bury, Vermont, and Haverhill, New Hampshire, in the 
Coos Country, 60 miles up the river. The story of Charles- 
town, with its fort and its handful of brave soldiers and 
settlers, during the early years leading up to the opening 
chapter of our story, is a counterpart of that of the be- 
ginnings of the towns to the south. At the opening of the 
narrative in 1754, Charlestown had been for 14 years a 
military post, and the most northerly white settlement, 
subject, of course, to the rule of alternate occupancy and 
vacating. The site of the Old Fort at Charlestown is 
marked by a suitable monument, erected and dedicated 
by the co-operation of the Union historical societies of 
Charlestown, New Hampshire, and Springfield, Vermont, 
on August 30, 1904, the one hundred and fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the raid on the fort and of the captivity of Mrs. 
Johnson. 

These stories of Indian raids are historical gems, 
especially when the persons taken captive were moved to 



Mr. Bailey as a Journalist 169 

chronicle their experiences in enduring type. The writers 
were not in the commercial lists, but for the most part 
seem to have been actuated by a spirit of thankfulness 
and gratitude to Almighty God for remarkable deliver- 
ances, their narratives being characterized throughout 
by good old Puritanic piety. The Johnson narrative is 
no exception to the general rule, and has but little in its 
subject matter that does not bear directly and concisely 
upon the beginnings and making of our New England 
homes. Written by a mother who gave birth to a prom- 
ising daughter under such peculiar and trying circum- 
stances, it is not strange that great emphasis should be 
given to this event. The narrative gives an unclouded 
view of the conditions surrounding a military post and a 
new settlement on the extreme frontier. It uncovers the 
Indian trail into Canada, discloses aboriginal habits and 
mode of life and warfare, and gives an insight into the cap- 
tivities of the great New France of that era. The reader 
of these narratives does not need to be a master of logic 
to discover that the founders of our homes were refined 
intelhgent, very religiously inclined, and physically robust. 
The reader will be interested in Mrs. Johnson's story 
of the locating, nearly 50 years after the event, of the spot 
where her daughter was born. The stones, a cut of which 
is reproduced in this volume (by the courtesy of The Tuttle 
Company, of Rutland, Vermont, pubhshers of Conant's 
History of Vermont) stand in the town of Reading, Ver- 
mont, but the daughter was born "a half mile up the 
brook" in the town of Cavendish. The History of Charles- 
town, New Hampshire, says in substance that Mrs. John- 
son negotiated for these monuments, prepared the in- 
scriptions, and directed that the smaller stone should be 



170 Horace Ward Bailey 

placed upon the spot where her child was born, while the 
larger should mark the place where the Indians encamped; 
but regardless of her instructions the stones were placed 
together on the main road leading from Weathersfield to 
Reading — and here they have stood for a century. 

Elizabeth Captive Johnson, the third white person 
born in Vermont, lived to womanhood, and became the 
wife of Col. George Kimball. One of her daughters mar- 
ried Jason Wetherby, and the late Frederick Billings of 
Woodstock, Vermont, one of the most distinguished sons 
of the Green Mountain State, traced his ancestry through 
Susannah, a daughter of Mrs. Johnson, who was born four 
years earlier than Elizabeth Captive. 

The book itself, The Captivity of Mrs. Johnson, is 
one of the rarest Vermont productions. The story was 
first told by John C. Chamberlain, and published at Wal- 
pole, N. H., in 1796. The second edition was printed at 
Windsor, Vermont, in 1807. The third edition, enlarged 
with notes and appendix (the edition now reproduced), 
was printed at Windsor, in 1814. The last two editions 
are largely Mrs. Johnson's own handiwork, and were re- 
vised and edited at her request. She died November 27, 
1810, at the age of 81 years, a month or two after finishing 
the manuscript of the last edition of her book. 



Mr. Bailey as a Politicali "Writer 171 



CHAPTER X. 

MR. BAILEY AS A POLITICAL WRITER. 

One of Mr. Bailey's trite observations was that "Poli- 
tics is the meat and drink (the aqua or the aqua fortis) of 
the voters of Vermont. It constitutes their one great 
amusement — their single great diversion." 

Politics was more than a diversion, however, to Mr. 
Bailey and besides helping several Vermont statesmen to 
high positions by his advice and personal work he contrib- 
uted even more successfully with his trenchant pen. Most 
of his political writings were under various "noms de 
plume" and not confined to any one newspaper. He was 
especially active as a newspaper correspondent in the 
fight on the local option question in the 1902 campaign 
and in the gubernatorial campaign of 1906. Several of 
his Scrap Books are filled with the press clippings of those 
famous campaigns and now for the first time it will be 
known who was the real author of some of the political 
correspondence of that period. In the 1902 campaign 
Mr. Bailey contributed a series of letters to the St. Johns- 
bury Republican that were widely copied under the nom 
de plume of "Hial Higgins" and these are given in this 
chapter. They created much amusement at the time and 
various guesses as to their authorship were unsuccessfully 
made. 

In the celebrated contest of 1906 Mr. Percival W. 
Clement of Rutland was a candidate for Governor on an 
independent ticket and his campaign was the most aggres- 
sive that Vermont has ever seen. Mr. Clement engaged 
Mr. Howard L. Hindley of the Rutland Herald to manage 
his press bureau and this versatile journalist conducted a 



172 Horace Ward Bailey 

most vigorous campaign, one of the features of which in- 
cluded large display advertising in most of the papers in the 
state. These advertisements were issued by "The Clement 
Literary Bureau" and kept the other candidate in plenty 
of material in answering Mr. Hindley's advertisements. 
Mr. Bailey took a most active part in combatting these 
charges. The St. Johnsbury Caledonian was one of the 
papers that accepted this advertising and through the 
campaign the editorials in rebuttal were written by Mr. 
Bailey. This, of itself, was enough work for an ordinary 
man, but Mr. Bailey was no ordinary journahst. As 
"Hial Higgins" he re-appeared in a most racy series of 
letters in the St. Johnsburj^ Republican, while he con- 
tributed at the same time an equally clever series to the 
Rutland Evening News under the suggestive title "A. 
Ananias Bolter of Mendon City." Letters signed "Rot- 
corp" appeared in the Rutland Evening News from the 
town of Proctor, while an open letter to the Bristol Herald 
under the non de plume of "Pussy Chameleon" was un- 
doubtedly from his pen. In addition to this Mr. Bailey 
contributed some telhng articles to the Groton Times 
and one or two other Vermont weeklies. 

Early in the campaign Mr. Bailey suggested in one of 
his letters that Mr. Hindley ought to be a candidate for 
Governor, as he had shown such ability in managing Mr. 
Clement's press bureau. This was heartily endorsed by 
"A. Ananias Bolter" and such highly complimentary 
things were said about Mr. Hindley that the few who 
knew that Mr. Bailey was not only the man that nomi- 
nated this journalist for Governor, but was also attacking 
both him and his candidate were hugely amused. Mr. 
Bailey's journalistic work in this campaign, as evidenced 
by the columns of newspaper clippings in his Scrap Books, 
was more voluminous than that of any two editors in the 
State and it was an experience that he greatly enjoyed and 
very cleverly executed. 

His first series of "Hial Higgins" letters were the most 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 173 

typical of his political writings and abounded in both 
humor and sarcasm. They first made their appearance 
in the St. Johnsbury Republican: 

HiAL HiGGINS 

Has Something to Say about Candidate Clement 
AND His Vaudeville Show. 

Deer Mr. Editur: 

I have lived nigh onto sixty odd yers, mostly good 
black Republican yers too, and never ontill last Monday 
night ever heard a High Lisunse candydate for governur 
adress a multytude of people. I would not have gone 
all the way down to Sante Jonsbury then if some of the 
boys had not told me that if Mr. Pursey Clemant was 
elected for governur licquor would be less scarser than 
what it now is, and instid of having to go up to the agensy 
and put my name down to two or three lies to get a bottle 
of licquor, it would be more as 'twas when Jerry Drew kept 
tavern and a fellar, when he went down as a jeuryman, 
could always buy a thimbulful in a little thick bottomed 
tumbler for ten cents, with now and then a extra treet 
thrown in gratiss. 

So i went down and seen and heard Pursey Clemant. 
i am glad i went. By all odss it was the best political 
meeting i ever went to. The band played splendid and 
Pursey Clemant 's quarteat of nigger singers could not be 
beet, even in Sante Jonsbury, and most everybody howled 
more vosiferously for the music to cum back than they did 
for Pursey. Square Dunnit come onto the stage with 
the High Lisunse candydate, both clothed in swaller tailed 
coats, low bossomed vests and deap thought, it will be 
a long day befoar Sante Jonsbury, with all its reputashion 



174 Horace Ward Bailey 

for cultir, will produse at one setting another pare of such 
handsome classickle looking polytishuns. Square Dun- 
nit introduced Pursey by saying he was a tip top feller, 
a grate finasseer, and a good citizen, but that he, the 
Square, didn't take much stock in his high lisense nonsens. 

Why Pursey should seleckt such a rank prohibitionist, 
and a Proktor man, too, to do the job of introducsion is 
mistryous and past finding out. There was probably 
five or six of us High Lisunse men in that grate crowd in 
full symperthy with Pursey who would have jumped at 
the chance of setting on that stage and introdusing our 
candy date. Perhaps Pursey thought that the rank and 
file of us High Lisunse contingunt didn't have no swaller 
tailed coats. 

Pursey read his lecture from a book except when he 
paused to drink a goblet from Styles Pond Watter or tell 
a story, or laff. If what Pursey said about how they run 
the corts of justic, and the Poleese department in the City 
of Rutland is true, they don't deserve no prohibitory law 
in that Marbel City, nor much else but a dozen or two re- 
vivilists of releagon, good old-fashioned releagon, to. 

Pursey also pitched into Mr. Morrer, that vile creeter 
who goes up and down the state trying to stop the floe 
of rum and crime. He also assalted states Tourneys right 
and left and gave every probationist in our land Hale 
Columby. Debaring some exsentrisities it was a power- 
full argyment for our beloved High Lisunse. Pursey gave 
McKulla a side winder, and said he was so completely 
straddul the issue that purty soon he would be spht to the 
collar bone. Pursey also kicked the daylite out of Flech 
Proktor who sez he wanst to be governur, but is squarely 
against High Licunse, crimes which will finerly nock Flech 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 175 

clean out of existence. All thinking folks who yern for a 
return of the days when we could get a nipper most any- 
where love Pursey Clemant and his grand High Lisunse 
docktrin. 

We, the High Lisunse contingent, wanted to grasp 
Purseys hand at the conclushion of the exhibishun (we 
wouldent have stoped his onward carear but a minit), 
but no, not a hand grasp nor a chaw of Rutland fine cut, 
not eaven a wink to foller him and the Square down Eastern 
Avenuee to his privite car, where they glided so quickly. 
Howsomever, Pursey had taught us the grand lesson that 
open salunes and plenty of them would support the govern- 
munt and make Vermont blossum. We follered on down 
to that privite car, our High Lisunse contingunt did, and 
inside we see a cupple of Sante Jonsburys leading polit- 
ishuns going over the ground with Pursey, &c, &c, and so 
forth. We nocked for admisshun and a colored nigger 
gentleman came to the door. We asked for a sniff of the 
inside of that car, but were told that Mr. Senatur Pursey 
Clemant was a mity busye man, and were askt if we had a 
swaller tail. We thort this another exsentrisity of Purseys 
campane and withdrawd ourselves. 

Kirby and contagious towns will slauter Flech Proktor, 
and boom our High Licunse candydate for he stands for 
all those things most dear to us. Nippers will no longer 
be so few and far between when Pursey holds sway at 
Montpealier. Pursey said McKulla was to flipperty 
flopp on the Probation question anyway, hense we must 
send deleygates for Clement and aim our enginse of de- 
structshion square into the face and eys and stumick of 
Flech Proktor. Eny man in this enlightund aige who 
dont know eny better than to support probation with the 



176 Horace Ward Bailey 

idee of making drinks more harder to capture is by a long 
ways to much Proktor to sute me and our High Lisunse 
contingunt. 

When our contingunt withdrawd from Purseys car, 
we met at Poleese headquarters near by and unanamusly 
passed the following reserlutions by 6 votes: 

WHEREAS: Pursey Clemant, High Lisunse candy- 
date for governur, has lectured to us on the kusse of pro- 
bation, his niggurs sung and the band played, 

THEREFORE, Be it resolved, that Calydonie county 
send Pursey delegates, espeshially Sante Johnsbury and 
Kirby; also, Resolved, that Flech Proktor take a back 
seat, darn a man who opposes the floe of good licquor. 

also resolved, Fred Keeler, Matthue Celback and 
divers other places be and hereby is autherised to open 
up buszness forthwith and the price shall not exceed three 
for a quarter. 

also resolved, that our Pursey says that McKulla is a 
High Lisunse straddler — High Lisunse first, Straddler 
second, and as they own contageous farms and have changed 
work many a time, Pursey ought to know. 

also resolved, the Calydonie High Lisunse contin- 
gunt is autherised and empowrd to provide itself with a 
cullerd quartette of nigger singers, a Private car and a 
swaller taild coat & forred the bill to Pursey, & that said 
private Car shall be supplied with numerous samples of 
what Vermont will be like when our candydate mounts 
the throne. 

also Resolved that these resolutions be printed into 
Charley Walters newspaper and a carload of the same 
be furnished Pursey to be handed out in towns wharever 
and whenever he gives a concurt, and that sampil coppies 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 177 

be sent to all candydates for state offices, includin Horris 
Bailey & Graham and to our delegashun in congress in- 
cludden Generel Grout and F. Plumbly & the spunky 
Lamoile fiters & that marked coppies be sent to Olen 
Zophe, Edd Smith, Orrioun Barber, Bill Vile, John Center, 
Hen Lewis, Ketchum & other well-known High Lisunse 
Advocates. 

also resolved, that 2 coppies each be forroded to the 
Pheenix, Ropes, the Missinger at Sante Albans, and that 
the free press bee & hereby is permited to print these 
resolushuns on its own hook with such comments as its 
grate polyticle wisdom dictates — and the bill shall be sent 
to Pursey. 

also resolved, that a coppie marked with a blu pensil 
be sent to Doc Webb with a letter of congratulashuns on 
his very narrow escape. 

also resolved that no matter what else may happen 
Flech Proktor must be nocked out on the first round, sole 
& boddy, for he is again us. Also a coppie of these reso- 
lushuns be sent to John Young, Max Powel & the Fillip- 
peen Commishun. 

Mister Editur, i thank you for invitin me to express 
my vieus on this grate subjeckt of High Lisunse i am for 
Clement and more freadom i am vociferously agin flech 
Proktor and Probation-McKulla cuts no ice with us he 
stradduls and winks with both his eyes — i haint been so 
thoroly aroused since the greely campane. take hold, 
Charley, and give us a lift in your newspaper. 

Yours for a more Higher Lisunse, more Taverns of 
the old style such as we used to have downstairs at the 



(12) 



178 Horace Ward Bailey 

Pervilyon; for more Clement and less Proktor, for more 
law & order — & bitters, 

Hial Higgins. 

P. S. give us nothing but Pursey Clement we can over- 
look the exsentrisities of his campane. 

HIAL HIGGINS AGAIN. 

He Has His Say about High License and the Pros- 
pect OF free rum. Cannot Stop to Spell or 
Punctuate in His Eagerness for 
THE Glorious February 3 to 
Arrive. 
Deer Mister Editur: 

Charley Walters: 
When Pursey Clement and his cullered quartette of 
nigger singers cum to Sante Josnbury last sumer and I 
write a peace on to your paper about him and Square 
Dunnit, my wife Hannar says, says she, Hial Higgins if 
you dont stop such nonsence youl get your mothers fool 
into a mess. Howsumever hannar is just an ordinery 
woman. 

I have watched Pursey and his onward carear togather 
with the progress of our new high lisunse law with un- 
boundid joy. I notised how Pursey walked out of the 
Montpelyer convention to victory; how if Pursey had seen 
more votes in the opening days of the legislatur he would 
now be a bonny fidus govurnur. I have seen the rise 
of our High Lisunse measure and the upriseing of the 
populase and am in highly over the results. 

I have notised the downfall of Judge Ross and Joe 
Batel, and the swift destrucktion of their punishious liquer 
docktrin with feelings peculire to myself. 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 179 

Thousands of noble sitisens of our state, as noble as 
myself, watched with uttir disgust the thrashings around 
in our last legislatur of Curt Emery and H. Bailey and a 
handful of men as indiscreat as theirselves and finally fall 
down on their own sords and expirin at once. Shurely we 
are fastly drifting backward to those good old progressive 
days of fifty years ago. When New england rum reacedes 
to 75 sents per galon, as it sartinly will when Fred Kealer 
and the Avenoo house are in rapid Competishun with 
first-class salunes where the Sitisens bank is now located 
and where Arthur Stone prints his paper, then shall sante 
Jonsbury blossum like a rose, the inpour of trade will sur- 
prise the natives, elecktrick raleroads will abounde and 
our street will be full of young men and madens sent to 
youR town to complete their educashun. 

Our High Lisunse club had fondly hoped that Pursey 
with his High Lisunse aggregashun might come to Sante 
Jonsbury and pay Square Dunnit one more visit and let 
Charley Calderwood drum major the crowd, but alass, I 
asked Square Dunnit why Pursey didnt cum round enny 
more now just at the time when one of his powerful lecturs 
on the reaferendum would multiply the High License yes 
votes. The square said nobody but a cussed blockhead 
would ask such a simpul question. 

When our High Lisunse club found out for shure that 
Pursey want coming any more, and that our dependence 
must depend on the Rutland Herald, that grate apostil 
& Expounder of our belovid docktrine of progress and 
equil rights, allso on the Sante Allbans Messinger, the 
instigatur of the grate new docktrine of a High License 
law with the salune left out, we called our Club to convean 
and resolute the following resolutions, to wit, vis: 



180 Horace Ward Bailey 

Whereas Orium barber has writ a high lisunse letter 
onto the newspapers nocking the stuffin all out of the 
false docktrine of prohibition and boomed our high Lis- 
unse law. 

Resolved that we accept Orium to our bosom with 
deapest grattitude and further bee it resolved, that should 
their be any more conciderable falling off in the personel 
ambishun of our Pursey then the sed Orium shall bee our 
grate Aposle, our flag shall be naled to his mast, and he 
shall lead us to victory in the near futur. 

Whereas a committy of 15 has self appointed itself 
to run things on its own hook, to suppres licquor legisla- 
tion, to defeat the will of the people, to stop the floe of 
Rum to drive out summer boarders, to in evry conseavable 
manner stop the grate advancment of state Hood, to in- 
crease taxashun by preventing the infloe of money into 
the treasery by rum lisunses and in ways to numerious 
to menshun work grate injury to our beloved common 
Wealthe, be it resolved that we have no use for that spon- 
tanous committy of 15. 

Wheras all the ex-govnors, most all the gospil preachers, 
all the teachers and schoolmarms College perfessers our 
delegashun in congress and severall others are agin us, be 
it resolved that they stand in their own light, and see thru 
a glass darckly, if perchance thej^ can see at all. 

Whereas the Freepress continusly and persistently 
prints in grate Primmer some of our slips of tung and pen, 
— Be it resolved that the said free Press is hereby fined 10 
dollers and costs for each subsequent offens and be finally 
supprest. 

Whereas Probition does not prohibit and hereby hangs 
a tail. Other laws do prohibit in fact all other laws pro- 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 181 

hibit, else state prissons and corts of justiss would go out 
of bizness. Look at the floe of Rum all the time evry 
whare & be it reasolved that our High Lisunse law fills a 
long felt want and will stop sed floe. 

Whereas a yes vote Febaxy 3d remedies all the ills of 
life makes life brite & chearful brings new industrys Open 
Salunes are bizness enterprizes. Let us rally round the 
yes votes for Seven lisunses the more the better, no danger 
in haveing too much of a good thing, be it Resolved that 
the no votes shall not be counted be it resolved that these 
Resolushuns be printed into Charley Walters St. Jons- 
bury Publican nusepaper & coppies sent via encourage- 
ment to Pursey, Orium barber Bishup Hall and Messingir 
of Sante Albans. 

Youres truley, 

Hial Higgins. 

P. scrip. Remember N. E. Rum at seventy five 
cents a galon and handy to git is a bonnanza. 

The New Vermont. 

Hial Higgins Discusses the Idea in the Light of the 
middlebury opening. 

Our old friend and occasional correspondent, Hial 
Higgins, is disturbed and disgusted over certain develop- 
ments and bursts over the levee as follows : 

Mister Editur: 

when I last writ a letter on to the Reapublican about 
high lisunse, the Committy of 15 and other kindred poly- 
tical subjects, my Wife Hanner made me promise most 
solumly never again to so broadcast enny more of my 
litterary produckshuns, but she is onley an ordinary 



182 Horace Ward Bailey 

woman and a promiss made to her is a goodeal better 
brocken than keapt ennyway. 

My grate and parrymount object at this time is to 
show my unaduhtrated appreshun of the gloarious in- 
augerrashun of Franck Grean's New Vermoimt at Middle- 
bury, Adison county, as well as my unspeackable disgust at 
this Lilly-white bizness so prevalent in Caledony county, 
with Geo, Morrer thrown in. 

The high lisunse bizness opponed up in Middlebury 
with a zipp and bang which to onct plases her into the fore- 
most rancks of commershul senters. Never in my day has 
a town the size of Middlebury had such a bizness boom. 
The Newspapers say a goodly proporshun of all those 
druncks and fines and arrests come from without the 
preacincks of good old Middlebury. Mr. Editur, thinck 
how, if it hadent been for this nonsensikle Lilly-white 
bizness that has such a ranck growth in Caledony county, 
our own Sante Jonsbury might have blossomed like a Rose 
with a most profertable traffick from all our little sister 
towns. When our bizness people wake up to the fact that 
leetle Middlebury, with a populashun of less than one- 
half of our own Sante Jonsbury has seazed this New Ver- 
mount by the fetlock and approperated it as all her owne 
with all its attendant bleasings and commershall incomes, 
then shall the bamboozled and deseaved populace hear- 
obouts rise upp as one high lisunse man and stamp out and 
spi^t upon this Lilly-white bizness. 

Pursey Clement and his cuUered quartette of nigur 
singers is vindicated. Pursey said in a little book he 
writ with his pictur on it & sent brodcast "After 50 fiftey 
years of the Black Nite of prohibition we see the dawn of 
a Better Day." What a confounded sett of lucke warm 



Mr. Bailey as a Political Writer 183 

imbesil idjiots we high lisunse advercates and Lilly whiturs 
in Caledony county must be to let Pursey's dawn of a Better 
Day ris up out of the West and strik little Middlebury 
amidships carrum on the addisson house and cushen 
against the logan tavern when the dawn of this Gloriouss 
morning might just as well roaze over Harris hill and 
bathed our santely sitty in its effulgense with all its auxel- 
lery blessings. But little middlebury snatches the very 
furst plum from Pursey's dawn of a Better Day and we 
trale in the dust and dirt of our own duplisity and short- 
sitedness. The papers sed that Wimmin on Washington 
street in middleberry had histerricks, stubbing theire toe 
and falling over prostrate boddies of men reposing on side- 
walks, resting theirselves from the arderous dutye of get- 
ting up so early to help usher in the dawn of a Better Day. 
Mister Editur, haint it been a long day sense we have 
had any cases of first-class histerricks here in Sante Jons- 
bury? We mite as well have em as little Middlebury, they 
make bizness. Think of Thad Chapman, high sheriff 
of adison county, with about 25 drunks all raked into one 
winro in little middlebury, all representatives of the New 
Vermount who come into to selebrate the dawn of a Better 
Day. Wouldnt it have been more progressiv and bizness- 
like to have that industry or one like it in our own Sante 
Jonsbury with Renzo Sulloway, Will Worthing and Bub 
Miller scoopin in all the proffits? It is past my compre- 
henshun why a New Vermount will continner to putter 
around with Scales and Organs and Slait and Granit and 
Marbel, when every single one of Pursey's dawns of Better 
Days brings better industrys with more proffits. No 
sooner had Jo Old seen the New Vermount immerge from 
its shell at little Middlebury than he writes into his Bur- 



184 Horace Ward Bailey 

lington nusepaper that the rickety moth-eaten mountain 
rule for electing a Guvurnur must be busted and a high 
lisunse candydate be selected from his side of the stait. 
This is sound docktrin, this is wisdom. This means our 
Pursey on deck and Jo Old might have and orto have 
written with equil wisdom that the old Montpelear stait 
house should be rafted down the Onion and set up in little 
Middlebury as a memorial to the first town to usher in 
a New Vermount and the dawn of a Better Day. 

Open salunes are just what our Pursey sed they would 
bee, a howling success, broadening manhood, increasing 
bizness, and b'gosh if sumthing aint done for our releaf 
in this Van Winckle Lillywhite old caledony neberhood 
purty soon, Hanner and me moves to little Middlebury 
remember that. 

Yours truly, 

Hial Higgins. 



Newspaper Letters 185 



CHAPTER XL 

MR. BAILEY'S NEWSPAPER LETTERS (PHILOS- 
OPHY OF TRAVEL). 

The letters in this chapter naturally fall into two 
heads, the humorous of his earlier journalistic work and 
the descriptive of his later life. The latter are full of 
humor, however, for they would not be his letters if they 
were not humorous. In 1905 Mr. Bailey contributed a 
series of letters to the Topsham Observer, a paper then 
published by Mr. C. C. Lord, now editor of the Groton 
Times. Some of the letters are written in the style of 
spelling made famous by "Josh Billings" and one is a keen 
satire on a lady from the city imbued with the "back 
to the farm" spirit. This series of letters bore different 
"Noms de Plume," while the other letters which follow 
had his own signature. 

Letter from Uncle Woodbine. 

Newbury, Vt., June 25, 1895. 
Mr. Editur: 

I receaved the letter you writ to me asking what was 
the news & so forth. I have read the Observer ever}'' 
week and have got all the papers saved up. My wife she 
wanted to cut them all up with a frizzly edge to put on the 
buttry shelves, but I told her to go easy on the Topsham 
paper and leave it entirel}^ alone, because I thought if 
Topsham had gimp enough to print a newspaper they 
orter be saved. I think your paper would be as good as 
Harry Parker's Opinion if it only had a good mess of New- 



186 Horace Ward Bailey 

burj'^ news every week. Mr. Bailey writes for the Opinion 
every week a whole column and sometimes two. My 
wife she cuts out the Newbury news every week and sends 
it to our daughter, she also cuts out all of Talmigs ser- 
mons, she has got a band box full of them. Noe I dont 
know what on airth she calculates to do with them. What 
is left of the Opinions she puts on the shelves. A good 
many summer boarders has come to our village. My 
wife says we orter take a few summer boarders and if she 
sets out for it she probably will. 

There has been a high old time at South Newbury 
about the Post Office being moved up to Happy Holler 
which is a little neighborhood all by itself where great 
happiness sometimes escapes the attention of the natives 
but the post office went up there just the same and no one 
couldnt put any more male onto the cars but was allowed 
to take it up here to the village or to Bradford & so forth 
just the same. Some folks scorn the idee of letting the 
dimercrats run their own bisness, but they run it just the 
same & so forth. My wife is alwarmed about my writing 
so much she says I have sot there the best part of two days 
just writing and things going to rack and ruin round the 
place. So wishing you plenty of good luck I must say 
adue. from your uncle, 

Woodbine. 

Letter from Uncle Woodbine. 

Newbury, Vt., July 17, 1895. 
Mr. Editur, 

When the Observer cum to hand and my wife she see 
that you had printed my letter what I writ to you she was 
mad clear threw and said I had made a tarnal fool of my- 



Newspaper Letters 187 

self and I thought she was morn half rite, but sum of my 
nabers said it was a fust rate written letter, and if I kept 
on I should get up as much reputation for such things as 
the Newbury correspondent in Harry Parker's Opinion. 
My wife wanted to get electid to go to Boston on that 
endever business but was disapinted, so she up and went 
over to Tunbridge to see her sisters folks. Peepil was 
quiet round here 4 of July and dident brake as much glass 
as usual. Two lawyers of some renoun has been in town 
lately vis — namely Alec Dunnit of Sante Johnsbury and 
Majer Watson down to Bradford. I haint found out what 
there bisiness was about but my wife she says somebody 
will have a bill to pay of no small propotions. 

My nephue Georgie come up from Sailem last week 
and wanted to go out to Halls pond and see how things 
looked. So we went out we looked at the Summer places 
on the shore and Georgie said it was fine I couldnt see 
nothing so very fine about bilding a house in the Woods. 
We went on to Levi Whitmuns picnic grounds & boat- 
house &c and Georgie sed he should think Levi would 
dubble his appropreashun an lay out about 2 doUers more 
money if he had known Levi so long as his uncle did he 
would have known better than to thot any such stuff. 

I expect my wife will want to take and bild a House 
in the woods for she has herd so much about Mr. Baileys 
cottage which he calls Camp pineton if she wants such a 
House in the Woods she will have to bild it for I wont. 
I swan I wont Ide rather go down to the beech. 

In my last letter I sed my wife wanted to go and take 
sum boarders and I swan she has tuk sum, a family on 
em man & wife & 3 children and they be comeing on Sat- 
erday next. If she haint stird up a hornets nest I lose my 



188 Horace Ward Bailey 

guess. I will rite you more fully about them when they 
have arove. My wife she says summer boarders is an im- 
portant industry &c. and that I must put on a bild shirt 
and wate on the table. Hopping your paper will reach 
2 million people I am j'-ours trulj'^ 

Uncle Woodbine. 

Letter from Uncle Woodbine. 

,, _,,., Newbury Vt., September 16, 1895. 

Mr. Editur: j ^ i 

The summer is past and the harvest purty near ended, 
and so is our takin' summer boarders also ended. My 
wife she ain't so much in favor of the summer boarder 
business bein' a great industry as she was. That man 
and his wife & 3 children come to our house and were 
summer boarders 6 days and \, and then went up to Mr. 
Hale's Tavern at Wells River. They said they couldn't 
musticate our beef stake. Now I pounded that air stake 
till it was all bleu, and my wife she fried it one hour and 
10 minits by the clock, and our boarders sed it was tuff. 
The}'- was also mad because all the milk was not creme. 
And they kicked because they had to sleep on our best 
goose fether beds and straw ticks, etc. My wife she said 
they neaded more waitin on than all the dilegates to our 
Sunday School convention, and when they kicked on one 
of my wife's best beafshank soups and said twant fit for a 
hethen Chinee, she was mad clean thru, and told em they 
had better went. And they went as aforesaid on bill 
Goodwin's maile team to the depo and I tuk their trunks 
on the lumber waggon. My wife says she has graduated 
from the summer boarder business forever now an hense- 
forth — and she is sot in her Views. 



Newspaper Letters 189 

Town central school Seminary has begun with a new 
teacher an they like him fust rate. The School Com- 
mitty men mowed the Common & slicked up things tip 
top, hired good teachers for all the schools, tinkered up the 
dumb old schoolhouse as best they could. Jock Smith he 
used to tinker up old schoolhouses by bilding a new one. 
That plan of doin business cost high, but it is Durable. 

Nabor Corliss down to new Jersey said in one of his 
letters as how he could see Hall's pond from Write's moun- 
tain. Ive known both of these places sence 1840, & I 
never knew before that one was in view of tother. Naber 
Corliss must have had an eye opener to give his vision a 

jog. 

Hay & grain & grasshoppers has yealded abundantly, 
also potatoes & muggy wether & frosts have been plentifull. 
Bote races, fairs & bananas are also more in voge than 
they was when I took the freemen's oathe. 

Report was reported at the meetin house last Sunday 
that Horris Bailey Esq. had bot the Buxton house and 
was goin to git married and move in. My wife says taint 
so. Ime goin up to So. Ryegate fair to see the baloon go 
up and the parashoote go down. Bysuckles is more 
plenty than ever — so much so they don't care who rides 
them. The Swead from Denmark who killed himself last 
summer by committing suaside has been in these parts. 
Such a man ought to be took & spanked. Folks round 
here like to read the Topsham Observer. My wife she 
cut out of your paper my last letter which you printed and 
sent to our daughter out west. She wrote back to me on 
a postal card, "Dad you be a Dasy." My wife when she 
see what was writ on the postal said you be a popie. So I 
suppos ime a bokay of rare buty & fragrance. 



190 Horace Ward Bailey 

I should rather husk 27 bushels of corn on the oxbow 
than to write such a long letter. 

Good by from your 

Uncle Woodbine. 

The New Woman. 

Beanfield, Nov. 11, 1895. 
Editor of the Observer: 

Don't you get a httle bit tired occasionally reading 
about the new woman? We take no stock in her down in 
Beanfield. It is the chief topic among the women. There 
isn't going to be any new woman any more than there is 
going to be a new man. If I know anything the same 
old woman and the same old man will prevail. The old 
man will drink and play billiards and go out nights and lie 
about it in the morning, and the woman will demand par- 
ticulars, pretend to believe the story and put ice on his 
head. A new woman has never been popular in this sec- 
tion. While men for a time may be possibly interested in 
her, the women themselves have viewed her with alarm 
and indignation. A woman is a woman in Beanfield and 
3''ou can't change her very much. 

My mother-in-law is here on a visit this week with 
bundles. You ought to see the wonderful parcels. She 
brings each one tied with four different kinds of strings. 
They are of every imaginable shape and full of life and 
animation. 

A new woman (old maid) has sprung up in this town 
and is establishing a farm exclusively for ladies. The farm 
will be ideal in every way. Ploughing will be done by 
middle-aged ladies in peasant costume and Tyrolean red 



Newspaper Letters 191 

morocco slippers. The milkmaids will dress picturesquely 
in beautiful white tarletan chemises and duck trousers, 
with kid boots run down at the heel. Her first act of 
ownership on taking charge of the farm and tacking in the 
edges of the mortgage so that it would cover the entire 
place, was to take off her smoking jacket and cut down 
an old tree that had stood there for years. When she got 
it down the stump looked as though a beaver had gnawed 
it off. This particular farm was chosen because in the 
summer time it was enamelled with daisies and great 
stately rocks covered with soft gray moss to break up the 
monotony and farming tools. The agriculturist has already 
planted a row of powdered rhubarb so as to have earlier 
pies than any of her neighbors. Most of the vegetable 
garden is planted to sweet peas. An old bed of Johnnie- 
Jumps-up (or whatever the plural of that word may be) 
has been torn out by the roots and the place saturated with 
boiling water. Turkeys with pale blue watered ribbons 
will eat bird seed and cuttle bone and the maid regularly 
gives them a fresh copy of the Sunday paper to carpet their 
coops. No gobblers are permitted on the premises and are 
shot as soon as competent authority has decided that they 
are such. There must be no crowing, no neighing, no bel- 
lowing, no cooing, — all will be at peace. Hens will be 
taught to provide worms for themselves, and a spirit of in- 
dependence among all the fowls will be fostered and en- 
couraged. Roosters who have been in the habit of calling 
public attention to a large fat bug, and then eating it with 
vulgar joy, will get their necks wrung. Unhappy married 
men will be permitted to look over the fence and rail at their 
hard lot on Tuesdays and Fridays. Socials and sociables 
for the spread of the gospel will be held on the first Monday 



192 Horace Ward Bailey 

of each month, and married men who have led an exem- 
plary life will be permitted to put their money through a 
crack in the fence. Women living unhappily with their 
husbands are invited to come to the farm and pull stumps 
for their board. 

Two sets of books will be kept for the farm — one for 
receipts and one for expenditures. These will be done by 
two different members during the year, the one having the 
largest total will receive a pair of neatly-embroidered sus- 
penders. This plan will be a revolution to bookkeepers, 
for it not only stimulates the accountant, but would seem 
to aim a death blow at collusion and consequent fraud. 

Should this venture prove successful and solve the 
question of "How to make the farm pay," graduates, it 
is thought, will be employed by unsuccessful farmers 
everywhere. The coming farm hand, therefore, will be a 
ray of forked sunlight upon the path of the husbandman; 
the wife will no longer elope with the farm hand, and out- 
door life will win many young men from the card table 
and the flowing bowl. It will gladden even the heart of 
the vilest brute beast man to see a farm draped with 
clematis and aglow with goldenrod; with picturesque 
cows each with a farm hand sketching her on the run; 
Maud Mullers in lavender pants raking grass with rakes 
all gay with ribbons, or digging drains with hand-painted 
spades or reaching the cunning tail of a cadet grey 
mule. 

Should a scientist with a liberal education in orna- 
mental farming be needed to show the field hands which 
are cereals and which are Canadian thistles, or to select 
those eggs only for hatching which will produce pullets, 
meantime throwing the others over the fence into outer 



Newspaper Letters 193 

darkness, I would give good references and also be a com- 
fort during a thunderstorm. 

Farmer Uno. 

Squashville Letter, 

Squashville, Nov. 15, 1895. 
Mister Editur: 

It has been some time sense I rote anything and I 
know the readers of the Observer like to read a sensible 
letter once in a whil therefour I will rite. I conclude 
Mister Woodbine has took my advise and is lernin to spel 
afore he rites any more for the papurs. I want to tell you 
about my visit to Montpelyur. Wal, I hadn't ben there 
sense they got to be a city till last Monday, and I didnt 
know but they wouldnt notis me, but I found myself 
darndly mistaken. Ther was Jim Brock and Bart Cross 
and Let Green and Tom Devit and Frank Fifield and Mel 
Smiley, and a lot more of the big bugs that was glad to 
see me, perhaps you think they were foolin, but I no they 
was glad to see me by the way they shook hands, and a 
lot of them askt me to go home with them to dinner, but 
I told them it was Monday and probably their wives would 
be washin and wood not be expectin company so I gest I 
would go down to the Pavilyun to dinner for I knew that 
most all the big bugs from our town went thare when they 
went to Montpelyur. Wal about half after 12 I went 
down to the Pavilyun tavern and there was a pert young 
fellow behind the bar, and he said will you register. I said 
no I have a Walton's register at home for every year sense 
I was married & I don't want any more unless you have 
one for 1896. O he sed I didnt mene a register, a book, 
I ment to rite your name and residence on this book & he 
(13) 



194 Horace Ward Bailey 

held up a big account book. I thot he wood think I cud- 
dent rite if I refoosed so I stept up to the bar and rote in a 
very good hand, Lysander Hayseed, Esq., Squashville, 
Vt. He sed why Mr. Hayseed your a splendid riter. I 
knew that afore, so I sed I can rite decent. He said will 
you have dinner. I sed thats what I cum for. Wal sed 
he walk rite in this way, so he took me in the dining room 
and I declare for't the room was bigger than my barn 
floor and there was lots of tables and lots and lots of big 
bugs and their wives eaten. Wal I sot down an a water 
girl cum along and put a paper on my plate. I says says 
I, I dont care about readin till after dinner. She kinder 
snickered and said that is a bill of fare. I said kinder cross 
I shall pay no bill for fare till I have had somethin. She 
kinder snickered again and said what will you have. I said 
what have you got, then she rattled off roast beef, roast 
pork, roast turkey, corn beef and vegetables. Wal I said 
I dont want all that, I guess I will have sum biled vittles. 
She kinder snickered again & went off snickering an pretty 
soon she cum back and sot down before me mor'n a peck 
basketful of potatoes, cabbage, turnup, carrots, parsnups 
and beets and so forth and so forth. I guess she thot I 
didnt hav mutch to eat at home but I sed nothin and fell 
to eatin. Well I et all I wanted and ther was a little left. 
I felt satisfied, more so than I did when I cum to settle 
the bill. I went out to the bar and said whats my bill, 
he says, 75 cents. Wal i was thunderstruck for a minit 
and didnt say nothing but pretty soon I composed myself 
and says i aint goin to pay for all their dinners, I want to 
pay for myself only. He says dinners is 75 cents each. 
Wal by thunder you could have nocked me down with a 
sleg hammer but I thot I wouldnt have any words with 



Newspaper Letters 195 

him. I new Mr. Viles had to got to have some proffits 
from somewhere to pay for that electric lite business he 
is bilding down to Middlesex narrows, so I paid the 75 
cents. It was an outrajous price, but it was about as good 
a dinner as I ever got away from home. My wife if I do 
say it is an allfired good cook and we had biled vittles at 
home tother day one one of my nabors came in about 
dinner time and we asked him to set down and hav some 
dinner and he sot down and et an et harty too and I didnt 
ask him a darned cent so you can see the difference in folks. 
Wal I made up my mind that next time I went to Mont- 
pelyur I wood carry my dinner with me in a tin pale. 

Yours Truly, 
Lysander Hayseed. 

Impressions of City Life. 

Mr. Bailey's visit to New York in the winter of 1899 
is thus humorously described in the Bradford Opinion of 
January 6, 1899: 

It is a good plan for a countryman to make semi- 
occasional trips to town for the purpose of seeing the other 
side of life, and getting the hayseed combed out of his 
hair. It is especially interesting to be in a great city dur- 
ing the holidays, for then human nature is seen in its most 
cheerful mood and a couple of million mortals wear a grin. 
I have been in New York city several times in my life, but 
never before when I have taken time to sit down and look 
things squarely in the face, get the points of compass and 
surround myself with an air of contentment and uncon- 
cern. I would not abide here always; it's too swift by four- 
fold to match my gait. I doubt if more than three or four 



196 Horace Ward Bailey 

persons in a hundred thousand in this great aggregation 
of men and buildings meet life with calm moderation. If 
there is either calmness or moderation here I have not met 
with it, and I have been several times from Harlem to the 
Battery and from river to river. The only real calm and 
comfortable persons I have met in this great town I have 
found in the public parks and squares and on Bedloe's 
Island. They are mostly iron, bronze and granite, but it 
does a countryman good to meet them. I have seen a real 
snow storm with high wind and zero weather in New York 
city. In Vermont we pity women because they brave 
the rigors of stern winter with such apparently insufficient 
clothing, but here it's different; one's pity goes out toward 
the poor men, pinched, peaked and cold. A woman in 
New York appears to be clothed decently warm, abund- 
ance of feathered headgear and neckwear with warm 
sacks and cloaks, but the prominent articles of men's cloth- 
ing are patent leather boots with sharp toes, minus rubbers 
or overshoes, a fore and aft crease in their pants, a derby 
hat, and a bob-tailed top coat. There is nothing very 
tropical about such a wardrobe. In Boston one con- 
stantly meets acquaintances; here it is different. One 
may mix with the busy throng for days and scan faces by 
the thousand and never meet a sign of recognition. I 
don't like it. The only agreeable feature about it is that 
you avoid duns. A place like this has its great conveni- 
ences. You don't have to travel far to find what you are 
looking for. The fact is you are continually finding it, 
and a countryman and his money are soon parted. I judge 
there has never been any dispute in this town over the loca- 
tion of the liquor agency. New York city is a surging pro- 
cession of humanity and vehicles moving in every direction 



Newspaper Letters , 197 

at the same moment. If you want to see the sky you must 
look up, as New York has no horizon. You are elbowed, 
jostled, crowded, jammed. A countryman's solace is 
found in New York, if he is looking for calm repose, either 
by a trip to the Riverside Park, where rests the always 
quiet U. S. Grant, unmoved by the jar of a great cosmopo- 
litan city, or visit the statue of Liberty, unshaken by the 
commerce of the world's chief metropolis. A country 
whose people move with less speed, and where you know 
everybody and their business, and they yours; where there 
is more nature and less art, is better suited to a person of 
my sluggish temperament. 

The Heavenly Panorama. 

The following are extracts from a newspaper letter 
written from the Tip Top House at Moosilaukee, July 10, 
1888, and few tourists have described the scene in more 
picturesque language: 

Could the imagination comprehend a preacher with 
the voice of thunder, the flash of whose eye would dim the 
lightning, whose broad arms would reach out over the 
lesser hills into the valleys beyond, preaching to the swelter- 
ing multitudes below, the words of his text would be 
"Come up higher." You hear his voice and answer his 
call. 

4: :|c :f: :): 4: 4: 4c 

Now the preacher points towards the sunset but utters 
not a word, for the soul is filled with nature's grand dissolv- 
ing view, daylight, twilight, night. No one can tell where 
the one ends or the other begins — refreshing sleep — morn- 
ing. The preacher points towards the rising sun, and we 
behold Washington, with Lafayette as a stepping stone 



198 Horace Ward Bailey 

flanked by the Presidential range; a little to the north 
through the Willoughby gap, where lies slumbering the 
mountain-hemmed Willoughby lake, can be seen Mt. 
Orford and Owl's Head. As we pass to the south Jay's 
peak. Camel's Hump and Mansfield, with the Adirondacks, 
form the horizon line; while to the southwest, more than a 
hundred miles distant, we can distinctly see the Hoosac 
mountains, through which the famous tunnel has found 
its way. Away to the south the eye rests upon Monadnock 
and Wachuset, with the nearer hills of the Green Moun- 
tains in Vermont, and Sunapee, Kearsarge, Sanbornton 
Hills, Sunstock and Prospect mountains as foothills. Lake 
Winnipesaukee, with its thousand islands, lies up dan- 
gerously near the horizon, while many miles of the Con- 
necticut valley lies shining like a silver serpent coiled in the 
valley below. Back of us the Pemmigewassett, encircled 
by hills and mountains, finds its way seaward. Villages 
with their white church towers spring up in every direction, 
clouds rise and fall, their deep shadows climbing up steep 
mountains pitching into the valley, crawling and creeping 
like a monster Leviathan. It costs but little time and 
money to visit this wonderful mountain. Its eminence 
over Mt. Washington is not in its height, being 1000 feet 
less in altitude, but in its location, which gives lovers of 
nature a variety of scenery never known or seen elsewhere 
east of the Yosemite. 

The Pan American Exposition. 

Mr. Bailey was a good traveller and usually con- 
tributed to the local papers an interesting story of his ex- 
periences. In October, 1901, he was a member of an ex- 
cursion party from Newbury and the surrounding towns 



Newspaper Letters 199 

to the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo, and extracts 
from his letter in the Groton Times here follow: 

Nothing unusual happened on the journey more than 
might be expected of a party made up purely from the 
Caucasian race, composed of men, women and boys, mar- 
ried, single and hoping, together with schoolmarms and 
citizens. 

It was voted en route to ask the Pan-American man- 
agement to confer on our party the degree of "R. V.," 
which is short for "Raw Vermonters." 

******* 

As a regular rule of diet I had rather be foddered on 
Vermont soil; when it comes down to drink, reverse that 
rule. Buffalo water is good. It comes from the middle 
of the Niagara river and is blue and refreshing. So far 
as I have observed, the only person in the party who can 
speak with authority on Buffalo water is the writer. He 
has not seen any other of the "Innocents Abroad" sample 

it. 

******* 

In visiting the Pan for the last time we met some of 
our party in a great state of excitement looking for us. 
When sufficiently calmed to explain, they said they had 
just had their fortunes told by reading the lines in the palm 
of the hand, and insisted that we encounter a like experi- 
ence. As a result of their enthusiasm I went in with Frank 
Meserve. When we emerged Frank's face was as red as 
a fiery furnace. So was mine, for after a few moments of 
the most intense study of the lines in my delicate and 
trembling palms, this wizard of the unknown rolled her 
eyes heavenward and breathed out these words, "If you 



200 Horace Ward Bailey 

are not married, you ought to be," During the period 
in which I was being transfixed, Frank was being operated 
on in another curtained booth. Just what his wizard told 
him will be as unknown as the tomb of Moses, for on the 
subject of penetrating the future by the palm process, 
Frank has been as silent as a graven image. But I liked 
it, for it brings to my cheeks the pure blush of youth-time. 
It makes me feel as though I might still be lingering on the 
outskirts of the market. I turn my face homeward with 
only one regret, and that is that my lot was not cast with 
this prognosticator of my future on the day I first saw 
Buffalo, for I would have gladly swapped many a quarter 
from my life-long hoardings for those reviving and re- 
juvenating prognostications from her prophetic hps. 

I don't mind getting up tomorrow morning in time to 
go on the boat at 5 o'clock sharp, but I pity the others. 
I feel fairly well myself, the only shadow visible in my 
horizon being that Pan-American fortune teller, but I 
may outgrow her panoramic view of my past and future. 

The passage down the river was without special event 
though it brought to light the fact that we had with us a 
kodak fiend and a conundrum crank. I do not believe they 
did much damage. 

The Fat Men's Club Visit Bermuda. 

Mr. Bailey was an honored and exceedingly popular 
member of that unique organization known as the New 
England Fat Men's Club and the notice of their trip to 
Bermuda in the spring of 1913, together with a brief his- 
tory of the Club, appeared under his signature in the Rut- 
land Evening News of March 12, 1913: 



Newspaper Letters 201 

Some dozen years ago, more or less, the New England 
Fat Men's Club was born at Jerome Hale's Tavern in Wells 
River. 

It was a healthy young one, it has multiplied and in- 
creased astonishingly. In the early days when activities 
were confined to its own modest roof tree it was content 
with youthful rompings, tugs of war, base ball, high kicks, 
also jack and the game. 

It also ran races, leaped frog, and congratulated each 
other on its marked increase of adipose. After these in- 
nocent sports the club would destroy one of Jerome Hale's 
famous banquets and wind up with a job lot of truthful 
lies. 

It has tried ocean voyages of seven miles duration 
around Portland and Boston, just a courageous venture 
to find out if the sea would hold it up. On May 14 it sails 
for beautiful Bermuda and the club invites your wife and 
children, your neighbors and friends, not because it is 
afraid to go alone, but rather that the world may soon 
learn that it is made up of salts, sailors and yachts- 
men. 

If the vessel don't tip over, or bust its stay beams, and 
if pure water and substantial victuals hold out, and no 
other untoward circumstance happens to cause it to per- 
ish from off the face of the earth, its next annual cruise 
will be around the world, "rocked in the cradle of the 
deep." 

P. S. The more I think of it, the more I am per- 
suaded that "Old Neptune" will get the surprise of his 
life. 

Mr. Bailey's racy and descriptive account of the trip 
appeared in letters written the Rutland Evening News and 



202 Horace Ward Bailey 

the Groton Times. The one appearing in the latter paper 
is here given. 

Having had several inquiries from some people about 
the isles of Bermuda I have thought best to make a clean 
breast of some things I saw and learned. In going from 
Rutland to Bermuda, via Bellows Falls, one travels ap- 
proximately 975 miles, 700 of it by water southeast from 
New York. Sailing time is about two days each way and 
our stay in Bermuda was about four days. It was a 
master mind that planned just a four day stay in Bermuda, 
for on the afternoon and evening of the last day I had 
some few attacks of homesickness. A heart to heart can- 
vass among my fellow fat brothers, when we were headed 
homeward, did not disclose a single sad emotion because 
we were sailing to the northwest. 

Mark Twain said, "Bermuda is heaven, but you have 
to go through hell to get there." Mark was a dyspeptic 
and saw things through his stomach, and his Bermuda 
vision was extreme at both ends. 

On this particular trip both sailings were fine. There 
was no sea sickness, plenty of excellent provender, while 
congenial surroundings and agreeable companionship made 
the voyages as unlike Dante's subterranean resort as one 
can imagine. 

Bermuda is a land of sunshine and flowers that is 
well worth the time and expense of a visit. The discovery 
of the nearly 400 islands making up Bermuda was by Juan 
de Bermuda in 1515, but the place did not begin to have 
settlers until 1609. 

Bermuda is of coral sandstone formation. All its 
buildings are made from stone taken out in blocks about 



Newspaper Letters 203 

the same as our marble. The buildings for the most part 
are one-story, though some of the better houses are two 
stories and the larger hotels three stories high. All the 
buildings are whitewashed twice every year. The vision 
as one approaches the ship meandering slowly over shoals 
and between islands, is one of unsurpassed beauty. 

Bermuda is a group of little hills and knolls, the very 
highest being less than 300 feet above the sea. The 
islands of Bermuda are about 19 miles long and from one 
to three miles wide and are traversed by splendid stone 
roads. No automobiles, steam or trolley cars disturb the 
restful calm of this peaceful land. 

The population is about 20,000, one-third white and 
two-thirds colored. And there are all shades of color, 
too. Schools are plenty where the children of both races 
attend, and the blacks look and appear as intelligent and 
thrifty as the whites. They are certainly a most interest- 
ing people. 

Bermuda is a colony of John Bull's with a governor- 
general who is a ruler of nine parishes. There is a colonial 
parliament with four members from each parish and a gar- 
rison of soldiers. 

If one wants to live amidst semi-tropical foliage and 
perennial bloom then he should go to Bermuda. At this 
season the oleander and geranium seem to vie with each 
other in luxuriance of blossom. 

Bermuda exports onions, arrow root, celery and pota- 
toes. It imports everything else, but by far its best im- 
ports are the tourists and regular boarders. In 1911 there 
were more than 27,000 of these imports. 

Hotels of all sizes and shops abound everywhere. Our 
party had been booked for the Hamilton, the hotel of Ber- 



204 Horace Ward Bailey 

muda, but a week or two before our arrival the house was 
closed for the season and we were quartered at the Im- 
perial. But it was imperial in name only. Its furnish- 
ings were commonplace, its raw material ditto, — the cook- 
ing worse. The Imperial has a swarm of regular boarders 
known here as the house fly. At dinner one day I ordered 
a salmon croquette. Immediately it was placed before me 
seven flies rendezvoused upon the apex of the conical- 
shaped viand. After about 45 seconds the seven flies 
moved off towards a sanitarium in solemn procession, and 
never came back. I shall always have great respect for a 
Bermuda-made salmon croquette, shaped like a cone. 
Such butter and milk I have never before encountered, 
and I more than half suspect that the Imperial Hotel butter 
and milk was strictly home made. I am also fairly well 
convinced that there is in these Bermuda isles a much 
better class of entertainment than was handed out at this 
Imperial establishment. In driving 75 miles on these 
islands I saw less than a dozen cows. The}'" were the sad- 
dest looking cows that ever switched a tail, and if these 
cows produced the milk and butter they certainly did well. 

There was neither brook nor spring on these islands; 
not even a watering trough for man or beast; no moist 
places by the roadside. Rain water furnishes the drink 
supply. It was clean, wholesome, and when served with 
ice as drinkable as water in general. All the ice is arti- 
ficial, for frosts are unknown here. 

The prevailing tree is of the cedar family, but the in- 
dividuals are scrubby. The banana tree, cactus, century 
plant and all kinds of palms grow in great profusion. There 
are acres of Easter lilies and miles of scarlet hybiscus and 
maidenhair ferns. The wonder is that so much vegeta- 



Newspaper Letters 205 

tion can grow on such dry shallow soil. There is no irriga- 
tion, no sprinkling of lawns, the streets being sprinkled by 
an antique salt water apparatus'. 

There is not enough earth to dig a grave, so the dead 
are deposited in sepulchres hewed from the solid rock. 

The drives are charming, no matter in which direc- 
tion you go, and the livery stable equipment is superior — 
good horses, carriages and harnesses, and intelligent 
colored drivers. 

But Brother Lord, if you owned Groton and I owned 
Bermuda, I should want to swap with you, and I would 
give as much boot as you could move away with a wheel- 
barrow. 

Every time I go away I come back with a better im- 
pression of the homeland. I have never visited "Beulah 
land" nor seen "The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere," but 
so far as I have seen I say, Vermont for me. 

On the return trip the New England Fatmen held 
a special meeting on board the Bermudian when they 
voted in several new members and presented Mr. and Mrs. 
Plowman a much deserved vote of thanks. Mr. Plowman 
was the courteous manager of our party. Brother Jerome 
F. Hale of Wells River, at whose tavern the club had its 
birth and who has been its treasurer all these years, gave 
a most interesting historical sketch of the club — its begin- 
nings, its aims and its objects. 

Uncle David Wilkie, the most widely known member 
of this great club of 5000 members, the father of the club 
and its first president, spoke most interestingly and enthus- 
iastically of the club and its members. Thus was ter- 
minated a most delightful and long to be remembered trip. 
It is a pity that more fat men and their friends did not join 
our party. 



206 Horace Ward Bailey 



CHAPTER XII. 

MR. BAILEY'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO 
VERMONT HISTORY. 

Most of the articles in this chapter were taken from 
Mr. Bailey's collection of Scrap Books, the intention being 
to present in permanent form his most important contribu- 
tions to the history of our State. As appears in one of 
his letters to Judge Fish, he had expressed a desire to write 
a book and it is very evident from consulting his Scrap 
Books and copious notes that he hoped to make the book 
a history of the early conditions in Vermont and some of 
the heroes of those days. Most of the articles in this 
chapter were written at Rutland in the days of his official 
life when he spent much time either in reading or writing 
along the lines indicated in this chapter. 

Vermont as a Republic. 
The Heroic Age in the History of our Commonwealth. 

This and the article which follows were contributed to 
the St. Johnsbury Republican of July 16, 1891, and the 
issue of the week following: 

Vermont from its Declaration of Independence and 
adoption of a Constitution in 1777 until its admission 
into the Union in 1791 was an independent and sovereign 
state, and this period is the most picturesque in its annals. 
The Spartan commonwealth single-handed maintained a 
struggle against New York, New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Congress, and the English forces in Canada, and 
emerged triumphant from the struggle. She organized 



Contributions to Vermont History 207 

an efficient government, adopted a system of jurisprudence, 
and managed her affairs with equal wisdom and success — 
proof of which is afforded not merely by the record, but 
by the fact that the population of the State increased from 
about 20,000 at the outbreak of the Revolution to 85,000 
in 1791. 

Among the measures which may be cited as implying 
the independence and sovereignty of Vermont were those 
establishing a postal system, issuing bills of credit and 
making them a legal tender, providing for minor coinage, 
naturalizing natives of other states and countries, and 
negotiating for a commercial treaty with the Province of 
Quebec. 

The first post route in Vermont was established by a 
vote of the Governor and Council November 26, 1783. 
It consisted of a weekly service between Albany and Ben- 
nington, and the postrider was to receive nine shillings a 
week, from which was to be deducted whatever he might 
receive for postage. Anthony Haswiell was appointed 
Postmaster-General March 5, 1784, and post offices were 
established at Bennington, Rutland, Brattleboro, Windsor 
and Newbury. The postrider from Bennington to Brattle- 
boro was allowed three pence per mile travel, and the other 
riders two pence, with the perquisites of fees for carrying 
letters and packages and the exclusive right of carriage. 
The rates of postage were the same as the United States 
rates, which varied from six cents for a letter carried 30 
miles to 25 cents for 450 miles. The National post office, 
it may be said in passing, began its career in 1789, but 
was not established on a permanent basis until 1794. Not 
a daily mail existed anywhere; the number of post offices 
in the whole country did not exceed 100; the length of all 



208 Horace "Ward Bailey 

mail routes was about 2000 miles; and the entire annual 
revenue of the service was considerably less than $50,000. 
The five Vermont post offices enjoyed a weekly mail, and 
that was an occasion of no small importance. On the day 
when the postrider was due, a day which was known, not 
by its name, as set down in the weekly calendar, but as 
"postday," half the village assembled to be present at the 
distribution of the mail, which in good weather, and in 
bad alike, took place at the inn. The package for the 
whole village was generally made up of a roll of newspapers 
a week old and a bundle of drugs for the doctor. It was 
a great day whereon, in addition to the usual post, a half 
a dozen letters were given out. Then, as the townsmen 
pressed around the inn door to make an arrangement for 
borrowing the "newsprint," or to hear the contents of it 
read aloud by the minister or landlord, the postman was 
carried home by one of the throng to share the next re- 
past, at which, as the listeners preserved an admiring 
silence, he dispensed the news and the gossip collected 
along the way. 

Between the Declaration of Independence and the 
adoption of the United States Constitution several of the 
states established mints, or authorized the manufacture 
and issue of coins. Of these Vermont took the lead, her 
first act authorizing the issue of coins bearing date June 
15, 1785. Connecticut followed four months later, and 
New Jersey and Massachusetts in 1786. The coinage 
authorized by Vermont was that of coppers — there being 
a great scarcity of small coins throughout the country — 
and an exclusive right for two years was granted to Reuben 
Harmon, of Rupert, who forthwith set up in that town a 
structure which requires a stretch of imagination to call 



Contributions to Vermont History 209 

a mint, it being simply a rough building 16 or 18 feet square. 
In 1786 Mr. Harmon's right was extended eight years, but 
in 1788, on the ratification of the Constitution, the opera- 
tions of the mint came to a close. Vermont had not been 
admitted to the Union, but she recognized herself as one 
of the United States, and yielded gracefully to the pro- 
vision of the Constitution by which the privilege of coining 
money was vested solely in the National government. 

The devices and mottoes of Vermont coppers were 
fixed by a committee appointed by the Legislature. The 
first issue is thus described: Obverse, Device, Sun rising, 
mountains and trees in the foreground; plough in the field 
beneath; legend, Vermontensium Res Publica; in the 
exergue, date. Reverse: Device, A radiated eye, sur- 
rounded by thirteen stars; legend, Quarta decima Stella. 
The second issue conformed to this description: Ob- 
verse, Device, A bust in a coat of mail; head usually 
laureated; legend, Vermon. Auctori ; Reverse, Device, 
female figure, representing the genius of America, seated, 
with a shield at her side, an olive branch in her right hand 
and a rod in her left; legend, Inde et Lib.; in the exergue, 
date. From both these types there were many varia- 
tions. The amount of coppers coined and issued is un- 
known, but it was probably small. The coins are now 
scarce and valuable. 

Free trade with the Province of Quebec was attained 
April 18, 1787, to the great advantage of the people of the 
State. For this they were indebted to the wisdom and 
public spirit of Ira Allen, who was the originator of the 
idea and who conducted the negotiations. 

The young commonwealth dispensed with all super- 
fluities. There was no capital and no State House. The 
(14) 



210 Horace Ward Bailey 

Legislature held its sessions at Windsor, Bennington, 
Manchester, Westminster, Rutland, Norwich, Newbury, 
Castleton, Vergennes, Middlebury, Burlington, Danville 
and Woodstock until 1808, when the capital was estab- 
lished at Montpelier. The Governor's salary was fixed 
at £300 ''Lawful money" in October, 1778, (when this 
"lawful money" was worth only one-third of its face 
value), and the representatives received six shillings a day 
and four pence a mile for travel; and other salaries were 
fixed on an equally modest scale. 

The business of legislation was begun in 1778, but the 
laws passed in that year were probably designed to be 
temporary and no record of them was preserved. They 
are supposed to have consisted mostly of general enact- 
ments, such as declaring the laws "as they stood in the 
Connecticut law book," or "in defect of such laws, the 
plain word of God, as contained in the Scriptures," to be 
the law of the State. In February, 1779, the Legislature of 
Vermont enacted its first code of laws, and these form the 
basis of the permanent statute laws of the State. The 
severity of these laws was almost Draconian. The death 
penalty was enacted not only for murder, but also for 
high treason, rape, arson, perjury in capital cases, blas- 
phemy, a third offence of burglary, and several other 
crimes. The minor offences, now punished by imprison- 
ment in the House of Correction, or the State Prison, 
were punished by the stocks or the lash or the branding 
iron. For the crime of adultery it was provided that 
"both the man and the woman shall be severely punished 
by whipping on the naked body not exceeding 39 stripes, 
and stigmatized or burned on the forehead with the letter 
A by a hot iron; and each of them shall wear the capital 



Contributions to Vermont History 211 

letter A on the back of their outside garment, of a different 
color, in fair view, during their abode in the State. And 
as often as such convicted person shall be seen without such 
letter, or be convicted thereof before an assistant or justice 
of the peace in the State, shall be whipped on the naked 
body not exceeding ten stripes." Bigamy was punished 
in a corresponding way. Incest was punished by an 
hour's exposure on the gallows with a rope about the 
neck, a severe whipping on the way back to jail, and by 
the letter I worn on the outside of the outer garment. 
Theft was punished by three fold restoration (or, in case 
of inability to make restoration, by personal service to an 
equal amount) and by fine and whipping. The penalty 
of lying was a fine of 40 shillings or three hours in the 
stocks. Work or plaj^ upon Sunday, Fast day or Thanks- 
giving day was punished by a fine of ten pounds, and a dis- 
turbance of the Sabbath by a fine of forty shillings and a 
whipping; and no person could leave his house on Sunday, 
except to go to church or upon an errand of mercy, under a 
penalty of five pounds fine. Counterfeiting was punish- 
able by the loss of the right ear, branding with the letter 
C, perpetual confinement at hard labor and forfeiture of 
property. 

Such was the spirit of the early laws of Vermont. 
These severe and barbarous punishments were not peculiar 
to Vermont, however, but were in strict accordance with 
the ideas of the age, humanity being a plant of slow growth 
and even now the dark places of the earth being full of 
the habitations of cruelty. The criminal laws of England 
were at the time (and for long years afterwards) much 
more bloodthirsty, and 24 persons were sentenced to death 
in London in one day, and half as many were executed at 



212 Horace Ward Bailey 

the same time, nearly all of them for offences now classed 
as mmor crimes. But there is no reason to believe that 
any of the more outrageous penalties of the Vermont laws 
were ever exacted. The death penalty, certainly, was 
never carried out for the numerous crimes for which it was 
provided, and the only execution in the State from its 
organization down to 1808 was that of Cyrus Redding, 
whose offence was a military one rather than a civil one. 
Public whippings are plentifully recorded, but either the 
undue severity of the more bloodthirsty laws defeated 
their own object or Vermont was signally free from crime 
of the graver sort. With the building of the State prison 
in 1809 most of the sanguinary punishments were repealed, 
and the criminal code was gradually softened to its present 
humane provisions. 

The cause of education enlisted the energies of the 
people. The first general law on the subject of primary 
schools seems to have been passed in 1782, prior to which 
date each town managed its own educational affairs as 
it listed. It provided for the division of the towns into 
convenient school districts and for the appointment of 
trustees in each town for the general superintendence of 
the schools. Provision was also made for the election of 
a prudential committee in each district, to which power 
was given to raise one-half of the money necessary for 
building and repairing the school house and supporting 
the school, by a tax assessed on the grand list, the other 
half to be raised on the list or the polls of the pupils, as the 
district should vote. The system thus established was 
gradually improved, until schools that were practically 
free were established in all the organized towns in the 
State. Nor was the higher education neglected. The 



Contributions to Vermont History 213 

first academy (Clio Hall, at Bennington) was incorporated 
in 1780 and seven others were established before the close 
of the century. 

The establishment of a university had engaged the 
attention of some of the leading men as early as the organi- 
zation of the State government in 1778, and in the subse- 
quent grants of townships one right of land was reserved 
in each for its support. But the matter languished, and 
not even an offer by Ira Allen in 1789 of £4000, with £1650 
in addition by other persons, brought about practical 
action. But in 1791 the Legislature decided to establish 
a college or university; Burlington was chosen as the site, 
and the charter of the University of Vermont was granted 
November 3 of the year just named. The first years of 
the University were years of storm and stress, but it lived 
through them; and from the graduation of its first class in 
1804 down to the present time — nearly a century of almost 
constant growth and development — it has been a center 
of culture and learning and a source of usefulness and 
honor to the State. Middlebury College was chartered 
November 1, 1800, (without any endowment by the 
State) and graduated its first class of one person in 1802. 
Its growth was rapid and its long record is one of wide 
usefulness and high credit. 

Our Early Days. 

The People of Vermont During its Career as a 

Republic. 

The character of the founders of Vermont is amply 
shown by their deeds. Almost wholly of English or Scotch 
descent, they were men of almost unlimited boldness and 



214 Horace Ward Bailey 

enterprise, for none but those possessing these characteris- 
tics in a marked degree would expose themselves to the 
dangers and hardships of pioneer life in Vermont. The 
environment prevented anything like improvement of 
the mind or refinement of manners, and as a rule their 
characters were as rough as their own m.ountains. Ex- 
posed to dangers from wild beasts, from equally merciless 
Indian foes and from the British forces, and accustomed 
to remove obstacles and surmount difficulties by their per- 
sonal exertions, they soon acquired unlimited confidence 
in their own abilities and imbibed the most extravagant 
notions of liberty and independence. They were hospit- 
able, benevolent, and, in the mass, sincerely religious. 
They had, in a word, all the virtues and all the defects of 
pioneers. 

The circumstances of pioneer life were well calculated 
to call out all the mental and bodily energies of the set- 
tlers. Roads there were none, in the modern sense of the 
word, and their place was supplied by paths cut through 
the woods. For many years nothing more was done than 
to clear these paths of trees, leaving stumps and stones and 
mud-holes for the traveller to avoid as best he could. 
Travelling, therefore, was performed either on foot or 
horseback, and the use of the pillion allowed the wife to 
ride on the horse with her husband. A sled drawn by 
oxen was the only other mode of conveyance known in 
those primitive days, and this was the style of travelling 
generally used by women and children in the winter. 

Picking his way over such roads as these, climbing 
mountains and fording streams, with only such possessions 
as could be transported by his horse or upon his own back, 
the settler, arriving at his destination, proceeded to build 



Contributions to Vermont History 215 

a house and manufacture his furniture with no other tool 
than the axe. The houses were built of logs and roofed 
with bark; the chimney was of stone plastered with mud; 
and logs, roughly hewn, did service for tables, bedsteads 
and chairs. Then sheepskin or greased paper did duty for 
glass in the windows; all the cookery was performed in the 
great fireplace (for stoves as yet were not known); and 
light was furnished in the night by pine knots. 

The house being built and furnished, the work of mak- 
ing a clearing began. While the work was in progress, a 
precarious subsistence was gained by hunting and fishing 
and the use of roots and herbs. As soon as the first crop 
of wheat matured, the grain was boiled and eaten; roasted 
potatoes played an important part in the bill of fare, and 
corn was either boiled or beaten into coarse meal in home- 
made mortars. As fast as the forest was cleared the trees 
were burned, and for many years ashes and "salts," i. e., 
lye boiled to such a consistency that it might be carried in 
a basket, were almost the only commodities which the set- 
tlers could exchange for the necessities of life. Ashes 
always brought a remunerative price in the not remote 
market of Montreal and in the Hudson river towns, and 
each little shop had its ashery. So important was the 
traffic that in most of the interior towns, during the greater 
portion of the year, not a dollar could be raised except 
from the sale of ashes; and staple articles, sold otherwise 
only for cash, were freely given in exchange. Of money, 
indeed, there was very little; business was transacted by 
means of an exchange of commodities; and taxes were 
paid in ashes or farm products. Every man was of neces- 
sity a jack-at-all-trades. As Ira Allen said in his history, 
" The inhabitants are all farmers and again every farmer is 



216 Horace Ward Bailey 

a mechanic in some line or other, as inclination leads or 
necessity requires." 

The women manufactured nearly all the cloth that 
was used — clothing and blankets from wool, and linen from 
flax. As early as 1786 the Legislature passed a law pro- 
viding that for the encouragement of domestic manufac- 
ture the owner of sheep should be credited on his list two 
shillings for every pound of wool shorn, and one shilling 
for every yard of linen or tow cloth manufactured. The 
law was followed by excellent results. Men and women 
wore garments made from these homespun materials almost 
exclusively, except that a few wealthy gentlemen adorned 
them^selves with beaver hat, silk stockings and velvet 
small-clothes, while each woman had one calico dress for 
state occasions, a scarlet cloak, a string of gold beads and 
a muff and tippet of large dimensions. The ordinary dress 
for the men included two shirts, homespun frock and bree- 
ches and leather apron. Boots were rare and shoes and 
stockings were only worn in winter or at chm'ch and other 
public gatherings. The women, to save wear, carried 
their shoes and stockings in their hands until near the 
meeting house, when they would put them on. The 
household articles were of the scantiest proportions and 
most rudimentary description — a kettle or two, a few 
pewter plates and wooden trenchers, and two or three 
knives, forks and spoons. One party is on record — and 
it was considered a fashionable affair — where there were 
only three spoons, and the company were treated to hasty 
pudding and milk in relays of three. Even those who 
ranked as well-to-do conducted their housekeeping on a very 
limited scale. Mrs. Adams of Bennington, leaving the 
state to rejoin her fugitive husband (who was exalted on 



Contributions to Vermont History 217 

the Bennington tavern-post for uttering Tory sentiments), 
was permitted to take her household goods with her. These, 
according to the permit issued by the Governor and Coun- 
cil, consisted of "Six pewter plates, two platters, two 
basins, one quart pot, one tea kettle, one frying-pan, one 
candlestick, and knives and forks." Cooking, which 
was very far from being a fine art, was done in front of the 
fireplaces, in skillets and on griddles that stood upon legs, 
so that coals could be put under them, and in pots and 
kettles that hung over the fire on a swinging crane, so that 
they could be drawn out or pushed back. Sometimes 
there was an oven for baking built in the side of the chim- 
ney. Meat v/as roasted on a spit in front of the fire. The 
spit was an iron rod thrust through the piece to be roasted 
and turned by a crank. A whole pig or fowl was some- 
times hung up before the fire and turned about while it 
roasted. Often pieces of meat were broiled by throwing 
them on the live coals. 

Provision was made for public worship, as a rule, im- 
mediately upon the establishment of a township. Each 
charter issued under the New Hampshire authority re- 
served one share each for the society for the propagation of 
the gospel in foreign parts, for a glebe for the Church of 
England, for the first settled minister of the gospel, and for 
the benefit of the school, and the two shares last named 
were speedily taken up. In Bennington, the oldest of 
our chartered towns, the record of the proprietors' meet- 
ing shows that the first act after the election of officers 
was to appoint a committee "to look out a place to set the 
meeting house." All through the early records of the 
State will be found reference to the employment of preach- 
ers and providing places of public worship. These primi- 



218 Horace Ward Bailey 

tive temples contained no heating apparatus, and in the 
winter the minister performed his ministrations arrayed, 
like the male members of his flock, in cap, muffler and 
mittens. The weaker vessel was permitted the use of 
footstoves. Each town elected three tything men and 
these officials were provided with an exalted seat whence 
they could survey the conduct of the congregation. The 
church music was traditional, and not set to notes, and a 
Deacon "lined" the hymn, the congregation following 
him. The first attempts to introduce written music 
encountered bitter hostility; the peace of the churches was 
destroyed and in some instances they were broken up. 
The Puritan prejudice against instrumental music in the 
churches continued long after the period of which we now 
write, and it was many years before the first bass viol 
made its appearance. The observance of Sundaj^ was very 
strict; — one of the first laws enacted, March, 1778, was a 
Sunday law, which was re-enacted with stricter provisions, 
in February, 1779. The Sabbath began at sunset on Sat- 
urday and ended at sunset on Sunday. Culinarj' prepara- 
tions for Sunday were made on Saturday; the pudding was 
boiled and the house put in order, and in the evening all 
kinds of work and play were stopped. Sunday evening 
was the festival of the week when visits were made and 
social gatherings were held. 

The Legislature in October, 1781, passed an act au- 
thorizing towns to levy taxes on their lands to build meet- 
ing houses. In 1783 another act was passed enabling towns 
to levy taxes on their lists for the same purpose and for 
ministerial support, persons being exempted from such 
taxation upon certificate that they were members of another 
sect. This latter provision was modified in 1801 so that 



Contributions to Vermont History 219 

a person was exempted upon his written declaration; but 
great opposition arose, and it became so strong that in 
1807 a law was passed divesting towns of all power to levy- 
taxes for building meeting houses and for ministerial sup- 
port. The law had been productive of great good, but its 
day of usefulness had passed. 

The establishment of schools was simultaneous with 
that of churches. The first schools were held in private 
houses in the winter and in barns in the summer, to which, 
in due time, succeeded log houses. The appliances of 
these temples of learning were of the rudest description. 

For desks, rough planks were laid across logs; slates 
were unknown and blackboards were yet within the womb 
of the future. The studies were limited to reading and 
writing, with a little arithmetic, which, however, was not 
taught to girls. The study of mathematics consisted 
chiefly in learning to count and perform the fundamental 
operations with integral numbers. A little "ciphering" 
was taught in secondary schools, and if some pupil of rare 
genius managed to master fractions or even pass beyond 
the "rule of three" he was judged a finished mathemati- 
cian. The goodly fashion was taught the boys of bowing 
and the girls of courtesy ing to people whom they met. 

Vaccination was introduced about 1800, — two years 
after the pubhcation of Jenner's famous treatise — and 
prior to that date inoculation was used, the patients being 
segregated in pest-houses. To this practice of inoculation 
a quaintly-worded article in a warrant for a town meeting 
in Poultney says, "To see if the town will have the small- 
pox introduced in town under proper restrictions." 

Men paid taxes not only on their property, but on 
their mental and practical abilities. One of the first laws 



220 Horace Ward Bailey 

passed by the General Assemblj^ was a listing law, which 
provides, among other things, that "all allowed attorneys 
at law in this Commonw^ealth shall be set in the list for their 
faculty — the least practitioner fifty pounds and others in 
proportion, according to their practice. All the trades- 
men, traders and artificers shall be rated in the list pro- 
portionable to their gains and returns." The treatment 
of insolvent debtors was severe, and, especially at the time 
of the financial collapse following the Revolutionary war, 
the jails were crowded with persons guilty of no other 
crime than povert^^ The stocks and whipping-post were 
familiar objects in every village and were in frequent use. 
A public whipping was witnessed by Daniel Chipman, 
who says of it, "I felt that it was inflicted with the most 
cruel severity; I felt every stroke upon my own bade." 

The quantity of rum consumed was terrific. It was 
used as a beverage almost as freely as water is now used, 
and it has left a strong flavor in all the old records. Its 
use was sanctioned by both church and state. 

The State Treasurer was directed October, 1784, to 
pay Gov. Chittenden 36 shillings "for cash expended by 
him for distilled spirits for the use of the militia on elec- 
tion day." When Governor-elect Robinson started from 
Bennington for Westminster to assume the duties of his 
office, he was escorted some distance on his way by the 
militia, to whom he furnished what is euphemistically 
described as a "cheerful bottle," from which 14 toasts 
were drunk. When the town of Tunbridge decided to 
build a church, it voted that a committee "clear a spot 
by making a bee and find rum at the expense of the town;" 
and the next year it voted "to raise the house at the ex- 
pense of the town, but the committee to find two barrels 



Contributions to Vermont History 221 

of rum out of the meeting house funds." For the mihtia 
on service, with a most inadequate commissary, rum was 
indispensable. John Stark, marching through Vermont to 
fight the battle of Bennington, wrote to the New Hamp- 
shire authorities, "As there is but very little Rum in the 
Store here, if some could be forwarded to us it would ob- 
lige us very much, as there is none of that article in them 
parts where we are agoing." And a few days later he 
wrote on the same subject with a tender solicitude that is 
truly afifecting: "I would pray you to forward with all 
convenient speed all the rum and sugar that is in Mr. 
White's store. Be sure to employ careful Teamsters to 
transport them." 

Lotteries were common, and they were regarded as 
strictly legitimate enterprises. Many a road and many a 
bridge was built with funds thus obtained. The Legis- 
lature granted (among many others) a lottery to Anthonj^ 
Haswell, to rebuild his burned distillery; to a Wind man, 
to raise funds to go to Europe for treatment ; to aid in erect- 
ing a brewery. Nor is the tale yet told. At the session 
of the Legislature in 1794 a petition was presented by the 
church at Brandon for a lottery "for the purpose of build- 
ing a meeting house for the public worship of God in said 
town;" but for some reason this petition was denied. 

Books were hardly to be found, and newspapers were 
almost equally rare. 

While the life of the pioneers seems cold and hard, 
amusements and recreation were not wholly lacking. Ira 
Allen paints, in his history, an idyllic picture of the settlers 
and their environment. He depicits the young Common- 
wealth as "abounding with scenes that charm the eye 
and gladden the heart; for what can be more pleasant to a 



222 Horace Ward Bailey 

benevolent mind than to see a hardy race, with nerves 
strong by labor and complexions ruddy with industry, 
cultivating the grateful soil, tending their flocks, or em- 
ployed at intervals in the discharge of domestic duties, 
sensible of the blessings of rational liberty and the sweets 
of seasonable repose." "Time," he adds, "is divided 
into labor and rest, intermingled with innocent amuse- 
ments, that render the one light and the other refreshing 
and sweet." These innocent amusements seem, aside 
from the ordinary social gatherings, to have consisted of 
quilting parties and "apple-cuts" for the women and 
hunting parties, wrestling matches and athletic sports for 
the men; raisings and huskings, and more especially wed- 
dings, — which were invariably celebrated by a justice of 
the peace, whose standard fee was a silver dollar, and he 
was considered a miserly churl if he did not present it to 
the bride. These weddings were made occasions of great 
and general rejoicing. The ordination of a clergyman 
was made a great public festivity and a baptism brought 
out the whole community, the procession marching in 
great state from the meeting house to the river. Above 
all, there were the frequent militia trainings, with their 
accompanying feasting and amusement, sham battles, 
and many rough, old-fashioned games. 

In conclusion, a contemporary opinion of men and 
manners in Vermont is given in a letter written in 1791 by 
a traveller from Virginia. He had conceived, it appears, 
"but a very indifferent opinion of the Northern States 
and especially the State of Vermont," having "formed 
the idea of a rough barren country, inhabited by a fierce, 
uncivilized, and very unpolished people." But a visit 
disabused our Virginian of these crude notions. He was 



Contributions to Vermont History 223 

"surprised and astonished beyond measure to find a fertile, 
luxuriant soil, cultivated by a virtuous, industrious and 
civilized set of inhabitants, many of whom lived in taste 
and elegance and appeared not unacquainted with the 
polite arts." 

The Phelps-Slade Controversy. 

The political battles between Gov, Slade and Senator 
Phelps belong to another generation, but form, neverthe- 
less, an important part of the State's political history. 
Mr. Bailey possessed three of the pamphlets and made a 
typewritten copy of the fourth, describing these rare pamph- 
lets in a letter in the Montpelier Journal of July 6, 1911. 

Editor Montpelier Journal: 

Among my collection of Vermont pamphlets few are 
so rare and interesting as the four relating to the cele- 
brated Phelps-Slade political and personal controversy. 
These pamphlets taken together constitute one of the lost 
chapters in Vermont's political history. Believing your 
readers may be interested in the case, I venture to send 
you a brief statement of the same. 

No historian has written fully on this subject. These 
pamphlets are so rare that it is almost impossible to find a 
set. I have been many years getting these items together, 
having advertised extensively for them, and have finally 
been obliged to make a typewritten copy of the last Slade 
pamphlet. 

The prominence of the principals in this controversy 
gives great ssest and deeper interest in the subject matter. 

The question plainly stated was whether or not Samuel 
S. Phelps, a United States Senator from Vermont, was a fit 
person to be continued in that high office. Senator Phelps' 



224 Horace Ward Bailey 

character is attacked, the claim is made that he gets in- 
toxicated, that he lacks dignity of behavior, that his lan- 
guage is not always proper and becoming, and that his at- 
titude towards the tariff question is not commendable, 
etc. 

Into this controversy are drawn many prominent 
Vermonters of that day, as well as men prominent in na- 
tional affairs. 

Judge Phelps and Gov. Slade were two of Vermont's 
great men and it seems unfortunate that they should have 
fallen into this bitter controversy, which, as is often the 
case, went far beyond the politics of the period into un- 
seemly personalities. 

This controversy took place in 1846, and is probably 
too remote to be well remembered by any person now liv- 
ing. Perhaps except for resorting to publicity by publish- 
ing in pamphlet form, so generally adopted in those days, 
this spicy bit of political history would have dropped into 
oblivion. 

Samuel Shether Phelps was born in Litchfield, Conn., 
May 13, 1793; was graduated from Yale in 1811; came to 
Middlebury in the spring of 1813; studied law with Horatio 
Seymour; served in the ranks at Plattsburgh in the war 
of 1812-14; began the practice of law in Middlebury about 
1814; was a member of the Council of Censors of 1827; 
member of the Governor's Council in 1831; judge of the 
Supreme Court, 1831-38; United States Senator 1839-51. 

At the close of these two terms in the Senate Mr. Phelps 
retired to private life at his home in Middlebury. Upon 
the death of Senator Upham in January, 1853, Gov. Fair- 
banks appointed Mr. Phelps to serve until the Legislature 
of 1853 convened. The Legislature of 1853 failed to elect 



Contributions to Vermont History 225 

a Senator, and Mr. Phelps went to Washington to claim 
his seat under the Fairbanks appointment. But the 
Senate refused to seat him. He died at his home on March 
25, 1855. 

Judge H. H. Powers once told the writer that he con- 
sidered Judge Phelps Vermont's greatest lawyer. He was 
the father of Edward J. Phelps. 

William Slade was born in Cornwall, Vt., May 9, 
1786; was graduated from Middlebury in 1807; admitted to 
the Addison county bar in 1810; became active in politics 
as editor, speaker, book dealer. Secretary of State, 1815-22; 
clerk of the county and Supreme courts; clerk in the State 
Department at Washington; State's Attorney for Addison 
county; member of Congress, 1831-43; Supreme Court 
Reporter, 1843,* Governor, 1844-45. He was a public 
educator, and in his compilation of "Slade's State Papers" 
in 1823 left behind him a most enduring monument. 

He was not financially successful, nor of robust health. 
He died at his home in Middlebury, January 16, 1859. 

Therefore it may be readily inferred that a battle 
political and personal, between a Vermont Senator and a 
Vermont Governor; between two of Vermont's most dis- 
tinguished citizens; between two of Middlebury's greatest 
of many great men, must have been a battle royal. 

These pamphlets are closely printed with small type, 
and if published in the ordinary book form of the present 
day would make a volume of considerable size. 

Many men of prominence were drawn into this con- 
troversy, including Justin Morgan, Hiland Hall, Solomon 
Foot, William Slade, George P. Marsh, Samuel C. Crafts, 
Ezra Meech, Samuel Mattocks and Horace Everett. In 
one pamphlet Mr. Phelps refers with great contempt to 

(15) 



226 Horace Ward Bailey 

a "scurvy article" which appeared in the Burlington Free 
Press. 

John C. Calhoun is made to play no inconsiderable 
part in this political drama, and among the well-known 
Senators of that period whose letters are published are 
Evans of Maine; Choate of Massachusetts; Crittenden of 
Kentucky; Woodbridge of Michigan; Bayard of Dela- 
ware; Silas Wright of New York, and W. P. Mangum of 
North Carolina. 

Mr. Bailey's letter closes with a synoposis of the four 
pamphlets, of which the bibliography is here given: 

Mr. Phelps Appeal to the People of Vermont, in Vindi- 
cation of Himself against the Charges Made against Him 
upon the occasion of his Re-election to the Senate of the 
United States, in relation to his course as a Senator. Pub- 
lished by the Author at Middlebury November, 1845. 
Containing an Appendix with 35 letters from his Fellow 
Senators in reference to his attitude on the tariff question. 
8vo. pp. 44. 

Gov. Slade's Reply to Senator Phelps' Appeal. Printed 
at Burlington by Chauncey Goodrich in 1846. 8vo. pp. 32. 

To the People of Vermont. Mr. Phelps' Rejoinder 
to Mr. Slade's "Reply." No imprint given. 8vo. pp. 40. 

Typewritten copy of Gov. Slade's Reply. This 
pamphlet closes with this outburst of state loyalty: 

"Though destitute of what the world most esteems, I 
have another possession which I esteem more — a con- 
sciousness that I have endeavored to do my duty to the 
country, and especially to the state which gave me birth, 
and to which I feel attached by very strong ties. 

"I have loved her and still love her, with the fondness 



Contributions to Vermont History 227 

of a child's affection; and when I am far away from these 
mountains which I have cHmbed, and the lovely, luxuriant 
valleys I have surveyed from their summits, and can no 
longer mingle with the friends of my early days, and the 
fathers whose venerated forms I have loved to see linger- 
ing around me; then, shall I remember this Zion and send 
up my prayer that 'Peace may be within her walls and 
prosperity within her palaces, and that those may prosper 
who love her.' ' ' 

Vermont's State Seal. 

Some very interesting information in regard to the 
original State seal was brought out by the publication of 
a letter from Mr. Bailey's pen in the Burlington Free Press 
of July 18, 1911. Mr. Bailey writes as follows: 

Editor of the Free Press: 

I am in receipt of the following letter of inquiry: 

"For sometime I have been searching for historical 
facts about our State Seal. 

"Upon the cover of a book published by the late Sen- 
ator Proctor in 1904 entitled 'Early Vermont Convention 
1776-77' is a copy of our original State seal in use until 
1821. Could you tell me where that seal now is? 

"I have written our Secretary of State, and State 
Printer, but they only send cuts of the seal as it now is. 

"As you doubtless know, the design was first engraved 
on a drinking cup made from the horn of an ox, and used 
by our first Governor. If possible I should like to find 
the first seal and drinking cup." 

As this is a subject of interest to every Vermonter 
may I not hope that the usual courtesy of the Free Press 



228 Horace Ward Bailey 

will be extended for the general publicity which the sub- 
ject deserves. 

The historical facts relating to our State seal and coat- 
of-arms may be found in the Legislative Directory for 
1908, pages 327-339. 

The original seal and drinking cup, or cups, are not 
so easily located. It seems upon a careful examination 
of the subject that the drinking cup story was first ex- 
ploited by Henry Stevens of Barnet, in Miss Hemenway's 
Gazetteer. Mr. Stevens was Vermont's most noted early 
antiquarian, and his story about the drinking cup was 
written fifty years ago, only seventy odd years after the 
alleged transaction, and coming from such a noted au- 
thority is entitled to a hearing. I may be pardoned for 
being somewhat skeptical about the drinking cup, for it 
seems only reasonable that inasmuch as Governor Chit- 
tenden has had direct descendants living in Vermont, and 
still living in Vermont, that so valuable and unusual an 
heirloom would have been preserved with care and great 
historic pride, and that its present location would have 
been a matter of common knowledge. I am well aware 
that this is not conclusive evidence against the Stevens 
story, and would suggest that the State papers give this 
communication publicity, with the expectation that it 
may fall under the eye of some one who can shed light on 
the subject. 

In Thompson's Civil History of Vermont, page 107, 
is the following item charged against the State by Ira 
Allen, State Treasurer: 

"1778, October 26, to 2 days at Windsor drawing a 
plan for a State seal, and getting Mr. R. Dean to make it, 
10s." 



Contributions to Vermont History 229 

And on page 133 is an entry of a payment made to 
Mr. Dean for a screw for a State seal. Reuben Dean was 
then a resident of Windsor, Vt., a silver smith of early 
renown. He is buried in the old village burying ground in 
that place. Nevertheless Ira Allen and Engraver Dean 
may have had Governor Chittenden's drinking cup as a 
copy. This seal was in use until 1821, seeming to have 
come into use by common consent and without legislative 
enactment. The matter of getting a seal established by 
law was first taken up by the Vermont Historical Society 
in 1862, when Prof. G. W. Benedict, Norman Williams 
and Charles Reed were chosen a committee to take the 
matter up with the Legislature, which resulted in the seal 
and flag being written into our statute books. 

The result of this legislation is the beautiful emblem 
(coat of arms) hanging in the office of the Secretary of 
State, the design in its background representing the view 
Champlafn had in 1609 when he came up the lake, of 
Mansfield, and Camel's Hump, and not of a view from the 
east window of Gov. Chittenden's house in Arlington. 
Let us hear from others on the subject. 

This letter brought out an interesting reminiscence 
from Col. Edward A. Chittenden of St. Albans, who remem- 
bered when a boy of repeatedly hearing his grandfather's 
story of how a British officer carved on an ox horn the 
design which was the original of the seal used by Gov. 
Thomas Chittenden. Moreover, Col. Chittenden has 
a piece of the apple tree under which the British officer 
is said to have sat while he did that piece of wonderful 
carving on Governor Chittenden's drinking horn. 

A few days later S. O. Brush of Burlington wrote the 
Free Press concerning an interesting rehc, a written dis- 
charge of an officer by Gen. Strong in 1798. Attached to 



230 Horace Ward Bailey 

the back of this discharge was a diamond-shaped piece of 
paper with an impression of the original seal of Vermont in 
an excellent state of preservation. 

Another interesting contribution was furnished by- 
Mrs. Sarah K. Lord of Burlington, in which she sent the 
Free Press a reprint of an article of an unknown date. 
The article was found in an old scrap book, was written by 
M. E. Baker, and is entitled "The State Seal." The 
article follows: 

In an old historical magazine, Henry Stevens, Esq., 
State antiquarian at that time, gives the following account 
of the seal of Vermont: 

"I had heard that the Vermont coat of arms originated 
in Arlington and went there to obtain reliable authority 
for the story, from a Mr. Deming who was the only man 
of Governor Chittenden's guard roll then living. Mr. 
Deming said, 'I boarded with the Governor while on guard 
duty as I was a young man.' 'Do you remembea anj'-thing 
of the drinking cups he used at that time?' 'Yes, they 
were of horn, and the seal of our State was first engraved 
on one of them. I have drunk out of it many a time.' 

"An English lieutenant who used secretly to bring 
letters to the Governor stopped one time several days, and 
taking a view from the west window of the Governor's 
residence, of a wheat field in the distance, beyond which 
was a knoll with a solitary pine tree upon its top, he en- 
graved it upon this cup. The field was fenced off from a 
level space intervening between the house. Within this 
space he put the cow with her head over the fence for the 
grain. 

"The Governor's drinking cups were made from the 
horn of an ox, bottomed with wood. First was cut off a 



Contributions to Vermont History 231 

cup from the end of the horn that measured half a pint, 
next a gill cup, then a third cup which was a 'Glass.' 

"The engraved cup attracted the notice of Ira Allen, 
who adopted its device for our State seal, only when he took 
hold of it he brought the cow over the fence into the midst 
of the grain — bundles on either side, so when she had 
eaten one side the other was ready, 

"It may be of interest to add that the house occupied 
by Governor Chittenden in Arlington, Vt., from which the 
view on the State seal was taken, is still standing, and is 
near the Ethan Allen well, so often spoken of. The lone 
pine is still standing (or was a short time since) on what is 
known as 'Hog Back's Knoll.' " 

Mrs. Lord adds further that the pine tree in the sketch 
accompanying the article is conventionalized and leafless, 
that the State motto is in large letters below the "fence," 
and she wonders when the star was added and why it is 
left out. 

Zadock Thompson. 

Mr. Bailey was one of the guests at the Forefathers' 
celebration of the Middlebury Historical Society on Dec- 
ember 20, 1912, delivering at that time a carefully prepared 
paper on Vermont's great historian. He preceded the 
reading of his paper with a short extempore address, full 
of keen wit and merry humor. The paper was as follows: 

Zadock Thompson. Born in Bridgewater, Vt., May 
29, 1796. Died in Burlington, Vt., January 19, 1856, 
aged 59 j^ears, 7 months and 26 days. 

He married Phoebe Boyce at the Boyce home in Bridge- 
water on September 4, 1823. Their first child, a son, was 
born in Bridgewater April 6, 1825, who died on the day of 
his birth. Two daughters were born to them in Burling- 



232 Horace Ward Bailey 

ton, only one living to maturity. She married and left a 
daughter, Sarah Thompson Cushman, who now resides at 
Northfield, Vt. From this granddaughter, and from 
Irving T. Shurtleff of Bridgewater, a grand nephew living 
on the old Thompson homestead, I have gained much 
original information about this great man. 

Sedate and studious as a boy, his mind ran in channels 
of original and scientific research. He began his life as a 
publisher by making an almanac in the year 1819. The 
same year he entered the University of Vermont as a fresh- 
man. His sisters sewed the almanacs and he peddled them 
from town to town, often taking paper and rags in payment. 
By this humble but honest means Zadock Thompson paid 
his way through college. What a lesson, what an inspira- 
tion to the boys of today, who think they have a hard time 
of it getting through college. In this business of almanac 
peddling Mr. Thompson went on foot and by horseback 
into nearly every town in the state of Vermont, gathering 
from town records and from the older people the valuable 
data for his history and gazetteer. 

It is little wonder that history thus gleaned has stood 
unimpeached for three-quarters of a century. He pub- 
lished several almanacs and furnished the astronomical 
calculations for Walton's Registers for 34 years. He 
graduated in 1823 and two years later was chosen tutor at 
his university. In 1828 he edited the Iris and Burlington 
Literary Gazette, and later the Green Mountain Reposi- 
tory, both published at Burlington. The year 1833 found 
him teaching in Hatley and Sherbrooke, P. Q., where he 
published a geography of Canada. In 1835 he was or- 
dained an Episcopal minister by the Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Hopkins, and in 1837 became a teacher in the Episcopal 



Contributions to Vermont History 233 

Institute at Burlington. From 1841 to the end of his 
life he was under appointment by the State as geologist 
and naturalist as well as curator of the State cabinet. 
He was also commissioned to collect specimens for the 
same. In 1851 he was appointed to the professorship of 
chemistry and natural history at the University of Ver- 
mont. During his busy life he found time to write and 
publish the following books: A Gazetteer of the State of 
Vermont, 1824, 310 pp.; History of the State of Vermont 
from its earliest Settlement to the Close of the Year 1832, 
1833, 252 pp. (a second edition of this book was published 
in 1836); History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Stat- 
istical, in three parts, with a new map and 200 engravings, 
1842, 650 pp. 

In 1853 Mr. Thompson published an appendix to this 
history which was bound into some of the later editions of 
the work. This appendix was intended to bring important 
historical matters down to the date of its publication. 
Natural History of Vermont was an address of 32 pages 
delivered before the Boston Society of Natural History 
in June, 1850. His History of the State of Vermont for 
the use of families and schools was a volume of 252 pages 
published in 1848. The Geography and Geology of Ver- 
mont, with state and county outline maps, was also for the 
use of families and schools, a volume of 218 pages published 
in 1848. The Youth's Assistant in Practical Arithmetic, 
designed for the use of schools in the United States, was 
first published in 1825 in a volume of 160 pages. This 
textbook was published in several editions. In 1828 
Thompson's New Arithmetic appeared, a volume of 216 
pages which reached several editions. The tenth edition 
was published in 1837 and is entitled the Youth's Assistant 



234 Horace Ward Bailey 

in Theoretic and Practical Arithmetic. This contained 
168 pages. Geography and History of Lower Canada, 
designed for the use of schools, was published in 1835, 
116 pp, with map. First Book of Geography for Vermont 
Children, 74 pp. was published in 1849. Journal of a Trip 
to London, Paris and the great Exhibition in 1851 was 
pubhshed in 1852, 114 pp. Guide to Lake George, Lake 
Champlain, Montreal and Quebec, with map, table of dis- 
tances and routes from Albany, Burlington, Montreal, 
etc. 48 pp. was pubhshed in 1845. 

He also published several other guide books relating 
to Vermont and vicinity, some of them reaching several 
editions. He also published several reports to the Legis- 
lature of Vermont under his several appointments previ- 
ously mentioned. 

What a record for one short life. Zadock Thompson 
was not a pioneer in Vermont history making, nor did he 
search out and follow the trail of his illustrious predecessors, 
Doctor Samuel Williams, Ira Allen and William Slade. 
Nor has any other historian attempted to follow in his 
well-beaten path leading to the zenith of history making 
in Vermont, but every other historian since his day has 
cribbed copiously from the hard-earned storehouse of 
Thompson's knowledge. He took his place at the head of 
a large and distinguished class of Vermont educators, 
without self-appreciation. He spent no time searching for 
his halo, therefore died in ignorance of its possession. He 
was great without knowing it. Modest and retiring, next 
to Moses the meekest man who ever lived, undersized, 
sickly, poor physically and poorer financially, he was a 
martyr to the cause of human knowledge and education. 
His masterpiece is the book commonly known as Thomp- 



Contributions to Vermont History 235 

son's Vermont, easily taking its place at the head of all 
Vermont histories. 

His remains lie buried in the burying ground at Bur- 
lington near the old church, a plain marble slab marking 
his resting place, upon which is the following inscription, 
as modest as though Mr. Thompson himself had inscribed 

it: 

Zadock Thompson, 

Died January 19, 1856, 

Aged 59 years, 8 months. 

God's will be done. 

He has held aloft the "Lamp of Learning" until its 
rays have shone on three generations of Vermonters, and 
as the years go by the lamp burns on, its light undimmed, 
shining for the time that now is, and for all time to come. 
Who can look through such a career and not receive pure 
inspiration? I would that every Vermont boy could know 
Zadock Thompson, and walk along up through the paths 
of young manhood hand in hand with him. Who can sit 
at this man's feet and drink in of his learning, his knowledge 
of the earth, the sea, the sky, without a heart full of thanks- 
giving that the Great God of the universe so richly en- 
dowed a humble Vermonter with so much wisdom. 

Of all men who have not yet been memorialized in 
bronze and stone by our Legislature, Zadock Thompson 
stands the most conspicuous figure of them all. We of 
today who seek to make Vermont greater and better will 
do well if we pause a bit to become better acquainted with 
the life and achievements of this great pure Vermonter. 

In the discussion of a larger State House, or a suitable 
addition thereto, the Montpelier Journal said in August, 



236 Horace Ward Bailey 

1912, that more room was needed by the curator, Prof. 
Perkins, to store the whale and elephant fossils in the 
State cabinet. This elicited the following letter from 
Mr. Bailey on Mr. Thompson in the Montpelier Journal 
of September 2: 

A full account of the fossil whale and elephant with 
maps and diagrams may be found in the appendix of 
Thompson's Gazetteer. This was published in 1842, 
and for the ten years following Mr. Thompson kept on 
getting data for a new or second edition, but owing to ill 
health, lack of means, and from the further fact that a large 
portion of the original issue remained unsold, he changed 
his mind. 

However, he published the most important of the 
new data, in an appendix of 63 pages, which was bound 
into the unbound and unsold books, under date of 1853. 
Many copies were also bound separately. 

The story of the fossil whale and elephant found in 
Vermont soil is well worth the price of the book. When 
buying Thompson's Vermont, don't begrudge a dollar or 
two extra for a copy containing the Appendix. 

Zadock Thompson was Vermont's greatest all-round 
educator, publishing more text books and works of an his- 
torical nature than any other man, and although three- 
quarters of a century have passed since his great work was 
written it stands today as an unquestioned authority. 

Zadock Thompson was a pure Vermonter. He was 
born poor, lived poor, died poor, yet his was the richest 
life ever lived in our beloved Green Mountain state, a 
heroic self-sacrificing life, lived for the public good. He 
builded better than he knew. 

Until Vermont erects a suitable memorial to this lowly 



Contributions to Vermont History 237 

man, this lofty educator, she is remiss in her duty, very 
remiss. 

An Old Time Fourth of July. 

In the summer of 1911 many towns held pageants 
and anniversaries and the approach of these occasions 
prompted the following contribution from Mr. Bailey's 
pen which appeared in the Rutland Evening News of 
June 2: 

In this day and generation, so rife with the celebration 
of important annversaries, it is interesting to take a look 
backward into a period long past the memory of anyone 
now living. Celebrations a century ago were substan- 
tially different from the great events of today. The pre- 
dominant features of an old-time event were education, 
patriotism and sociability, in which an oration or sermon 
by some person of widely known ability formed the center- 
piece. 

In the "olden times" great public events were con- 
sidered to be properly installed and set in motion, only 
when a sermon or oration, from one to two hours long, had 
been delivered. Notable among these events were fun- 
erals, public hangings, the opening of the Legislature, 
agricultural fairs and Fourth of July celebrations. 

The great features of a present day celebration are 
commercialism, pageantry and advertising, with an ad- 
mission fee to some place to witness a ball game, a race, or 
sports of some kind, with the possibility of an historical 
address in which only a small minority are interested. 
This is truly a great swift age of tumultuous headlong push 
for glory, for place, (sometimes called office) and for the 
dollar. It would indeed be pessimistic to say that the 
great throbbing heart of philanthropy and patriotism is 



238 Horace Ward Bailey 

ossified, but who can deny that the great mass of people 
would go to a ball game or excursion on Memorial day, 
quicker than to meet with the G. A. R. boys and devote 
two or three hours to their fellowship, or would rather 
spend a dollar at some game of chance than to give 50 cents 
to erect a marker to the memory of some old patriot who 
founded our homes and erected our institutions. 

I may be solitary and alone, and lagging behind in this 
great onrush, but is it not cool and refreshing to look back 
to a celebration three or four generations ago, like the one 
at Hartland, the record of which has come down to us in 
a well-preserved pamphlet of 24 pages. 

Sixteen pages of this pamphlet were occupied by an 
historical address by Rev. Hosea Ballou, that great pioneer 
of Universalism in Vermont. A patriotic song of 12 verses, 
and an ode of seven stanzas were published, which, a foot- 
note says, were written for this occasion by some gentleman 
of Hartland. The following account of the celebration is 
the appendix to the pamphlet, and is worth the careful 
consideration of the public. 

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 

Hartland, (Vermont) July 6, 1807. 
" Last Saturday the anniversary of our independence 
was celebrated at the meeting house in this town, to the 
great satisfaction of a numerous concourse of people who 
attended on the occasion. The rising of the sun was an- 
nounced by the discharge of the cannon. At 11 o'clock a 
very respectable procession was formed, preceded by the 
orator and officers of the day, aided by Capt. Campbell's 
artillery, (who did themselves great honor) and marched 
to the meeting house, with locked arms, where the Declara- 



Contributions to Vermont History 239 

tion of Independence was read, and an oration delivered 
by the Rev. Hosea Ballou, well adapted to the occasion. 
The devotional parts of the exercises were composed of 
solemn prayers and singing, which were both fervent and 
patriotic. Vocal and instrumental music formed a part 
of the exercises of the day. 

"At half past 2 o'clock the procession again formed, 
and were conducted to a bower, where they partook of a 
generous repast, well provided for the occasion by E. 
Campbell. After dinner the following toasts were drunk, 
accompanied by discharges of cannon, and the cheers of 
martial music. 

The Toasts. 

"The Day We Celebrate" — How animating to every 
friend of liberty is the remembrance of that glorious era; 
may the birthday of equal liberty and the rights of man 
never be forgotten. 

"The Sovereignty of the People." — May it no longer 
be insulted by aristocrats, tyrants nor traitors. 

"The Constitution of the United States." — Like the 
golden lamp, may it never cease burning. 

"The President of the United States" — Whose wis- 
dom has conducted the ark of our safety through the storms 
and whirlpools of contending powers, and hath moored us 
safe in the haven of peace and happiness. 

"The Militia our only Defense." — May they be, like 
the ancient Spartans, sufficient for our protection, without 
walls or fleets. 

"The American Navy." — May it yet be able to set 
bounds to the present tyrants of the sea. 

"American Heroes." — The immortal Washington and 



240 Horace Ward Bailey 

the patriots who achieved our independence; may the vast 
expense of our freedom ever endear their memories to a 
grateful people. 

"The Tree of Liberty." — Whose roots have been mois- 
tened with the richest blood of America; may it grow and 
flourish till all nations shall rest under the shadow thereof. 

"The Freemen of Vermont." — May their next elec- 
tion fill the several offices of the state with men most noted 
for wisdom and genuine republicanism. 

"Agriculture." — The nursery of heroes and the sup- 
port of man; may the Americans never think themselves 
above an employment which did honor to a Roman consul. 

"The Agricultural Society of Vermont." — May their 
exertions for the promotion of that art be such as shall dis- 
play wisdom in themselves, and confer honor to the 
state. 

"Commerce and Manufacturers." — May those useful 
institutions of our national wealth awaken the sluggard, 
and call forth those given to laziness into the fields of in- 
dustry. 

"The State Bank of Vermont." — May its public 
utility soon convince its enemies that a public good ought 
not to be converted to a private speculation. 

"The American Eagle." — May she soar above all con- 
tending parties and carry with her the olive branch of peace. 

"Abolition of Slavery." — May the sons of Columbia 
be philanthropists in practice, and never abate in their 
endeavors to annihilate the practice of making slaves of 
the human race. 

"The Press." — May its conductors be men of science 
and liberty, and its patrons those of wisdom and harmony. 

"The Western Territory." — May they never be so 



Contributions to Vermont History 241 

blind to their own interests as to think of a separation 
from their Atlantic brethren. 

"The Fair Daughters of Columbia." — May virtue 
form their moral character, modesty be their charms, and 
faithful republicans their husbands." 

"Asa Taylor, esq., officiated as president, and Elihu 
Luce, esq., as vice president. Maj. Lot Hodgman and Lt. 
Samuel Taylor served as marshals of the day; Capt. Abel 
Farwell, Mr. Asa Lull, Dr. Sturdivant, Eliakim Spooner, 
esq., and Ens. Elias Gallup, as aids. The above-named 
officers filled their respective stations with dignity; and their 
exertions on the occasion did themselves great honor. 

"This being the first anniversary of this kind ever 
celebrated in the town, and the whole proceedings being 
attended with that harmony and regularity which rendered 
the day joyous, we think it well worthy the imitation of 
all good citizens." 

Vermont Historians for One Hundred Years. 

. In the winter of 1904 Mr. Bailey wrote a series of 
articles to the Groton Times upon the historians of Ver- 
mont and their histories. While no mention was made of 
early writers like Dr. Williams and Mr. Thompson, Mr. 
Bailej'^ comprehensively covered each writer and his book 
mentioned in this series. The series, therefore, forms an 
interesting review of the work of our historians for the 
last hundred years from one who could discriminate be- 
tween history and mere tradition. 

s. R. hall's text book. 

Among the first historians and geographers, if not 
indeed the first, to prepare a Vermont text book on the 
subject under consideration was S. R. Hall, who, as early 
(16) 



242 Horace Ward Bailey 

as 1827, prepared and published a "Child's Assistant to 
a Knowledge of the Geography and History of Vermont." 
This little book of less than 100 pages was first printed in 
1827, and in the years following reached several editions. 
This work was revised, enlarged and re-edited by Pliny 
H. White and published at Montpelier in 1874 in a snug 
book of 280 pages, which became an important text book 
in our schools, having been endorsed by the legislature and 
board of education. 

Mr. Hall was a scholar and published several educa- 
tional works, including the subjects named; also mathe- 
matics and geology, and lectures to teachers. S. R. Hall 
was born at Croyden, N. H., October 27, 1795, and died at 
Brownington, June 24, 1877. After teaching several years 
he studied theology. While preaching at Concord, Mr. 
Hall established and taught what is claimed to have been 
the first normal school in the country, and introduced 
blackboards for common use in schools. All in all, the life 
work of S. R. Hall is deserving of a place in the educa- 
tional annals of Vermont. 

PLINY H. WHITE. 

Pliny H. White, mentioned in the preceding sketch 
as reviser of one of Mr. Hall's books, was a local historian, 
civil, political, ecclesiastical and biographical. He was the 
publisher of a history of Coventry, 1859; "The Annals of 
Salem;" "History of Newspapers in Orleans County," 
1869. Also many of his sermons and biographical sketches 
were published and had wide circulation. He was born 
at Springfield October 6, 1822, and died at Coventry April 
24, 1869. 



Contributions to Vermont History 243 

Eastman's history of Vermont, 1828. 

This work was designed for the use of schools; con- 
tains 110 pages and was pubhshed at Brattleboro. About 
this time Mr. Eastman prepared a history of New York> 
455 pages. F. S. Eastman was born at Randolph about 
the year 1800. He fitted for college at the Orange County 
grammar school and graduated at the U. V. M. in 1827. 
His life work was teaching, mostly in Massachusetts. He 
was for a time connected with the customs department 
at Boston, where he died in 1846 or 1847. 

HOSKINS' history of VERMONT. 

Mr. Hoskins gives a most interesting sketch of Ver- 
mont's early days in his book of 316 pages which was pub- 
lished in Vergennes in 1831. He also published a pamphlet 
on "Strictures on Civil Liberty" and other pamphlets. 
Nathan Hoskins was born at Weathersfield, April 27, 1795, 
and died at Williamstown, Mass., April 21, 1869. He 
was a gradiiiate of Dartmouth, class of 1820, practiced 
law at Vergennes and Bennington and at Williamstown, 
Mass. 

BECKLEy's history of VERMONT. 

Rev. Hosea Beckley, A. M., was born at Berlin, Conn., 
in 1780, graduated from Yale, 1803, and was pastor of the 
Congregational church at Dummerston from 1808 to 1837, 
He died about 1844. He left this history of 396 pages, with 
descriptions physical and topographical in manuscript, 
it being published in Brattleboro in 1846, after his death, 
for the benefit of his familv. 



244 Horace WxVrd Bailey 

lippincott's cabinet series. 

The history of Vermont from its earliest settlement 
to the present time was told in a book of 260 pages written 
by W. H. Carpenter and T. S. Arthur and published by 
Lippincott, Grambo & Co., New York, 1853. This is a 
well written and interesting little history, being one of 
a series covering many of the states. These historians 
open with the sailing of Samuel Champlain 1608, and end 
with statistics of interest, bringing Vermont down to the 
year 1850. 

hall's eastern VERMONT. 

Hall's Eastern Vermont is a history of Vermont from 
its settlement to the close of the eighteenth century, with 
biographical chapter and appendices. This is the clearest, 
most comprehensive and concise history of Eastern Ver- 
mont ever written. It contains about 800 pages and was 
published by D. Appleton & Co., New York, in 1858. A 
second edition in two volumes, was published at Albany, 
N. Y., in 1865. The biographical chapter contains over 
150 pages and deals with the men who had to do with the 
making of Eastern Vermont. There are twelve appendices 
containing much valuable historical matter. 

Among the subjects specially treated are the ''Equiva- 
lent Lands," "Fight at John Kilburn's Fort," "Township 
No. 1," "Census of January 16, 1771, giving population 
of Cumberland and Gloucester Counties," "The West- 
minster Massacre," "The Recompense of Lands,"" Divi- 
sion of the $30,000." No other historian has entered so 
carefully into the detail of the establishment and progress 
of that territory east of the Green Mountains. Students 
of Vermont can ill afford to be without this history. Among 



Contributions to Vermont History 245 

other books, Mr. Hall published a bibliography of Vermont, 
containing about 300 titles. 

Benjamin H. Hall was a native and resident of Troy, 
N. Y. He was a graduate of Harvard, and a lawyer and 
newspaper man by profession. He was a grandson of 
Lot Hall, prominent as a lawyer, legislator and patriot at 
Westminster from 1782 to the time of his death, May 17, 
1809. He was a judge of the supreme court from 1794 
to 1801. So it seems that this particular historian, Ben- 
jamin H. Hall, although not a Vermonter in a literal sense, 
had more than ordinary Vermont prestige. 

COOLIDGE AND MANSFIELD. 

This is a history of New England in two volumes. 
Volume 1 takes up Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, 
about 250 pages being devoted to Vermont, published at 
Boston in 1859. A second edition was published in 1864. 
Vermont is treated in gazetteer form in this work, the towns 
being taken alphabetically. This is doubtless a commercial 
history, and histories of this class seldom dig for facts which 
need to be unearthed in order to make history valuable. 

hall's history of VERMONT. 

This valuable history treats on Vermont from its dis- 
covery to its admission to the Union, contains over 500 
pages, and was published at Albany, N. Y., in 1868. This 
particular historian is Hiland Hall, born at Bennington, 
July 20, 1795; died at Springfield, Mass., December 18, 
1885. Member of the legislature, state's attorney, mem- 
ber of congress, book commissioner, comptroller of the 
treasury and governor of Vermont in 1858-60. To be 
acquainted with the attainments of Hiland Hall, to know 



246 Horace Ward Bailey 

what he achieved as citizen and statesman, is sufficient 
introduction to his history. The two Halls were worthy- 
men and most competent historians. 

hemenway's gazetteer. 1867-1891. 

If area were to count in history then the Hemenway 
Gazetteer ranks first in the list. This great work comprises 
five volumes, aggregating about 6000 pages. The work is 
a commingling of historical data, biographical sketches, 
and stirring incidents among the early settlers. The work 
is taken up by towns in county groups, and for the most 
part is a series of letters written by leading and elderly 
citizens and town clerks, and its style and variety must 
therefore be interesting to the reader. It is not a history 
of Vermont produced by careful study and incessant dig- 
ging; its multitude of authors could not all be historians. 
Miss Hemenway has done a noble work. Her compilation 
shows excellent judgment, and this great mass of history, 
biography, genealogy, and extracts gathered from so many 
sources makes the Hemenway Gazetteer a history in a 
class by itself, and Miss Hemenway, whose life was wrapped 
in this work, a public benefactor. Miss Abby Maria Hem- 
enway was born at Ludlow, October 7, 1827, died at Chi- 
cago, February 24, 1890, and her remains were brought to 
Ludlow for burial. Miss Hemenway had the manuscript 
for Vol. 5 nearly ready for the press at the time of her 
death. The work was completed and published by Mrs. 
Carrie E. H. Page, a sister, in 1891. Vol. 5 contains a 
brief sketch of Miss Hemenway's life and work, together 
with a list of her publications. In this list Vol. 6 is men- 
tioned as follows: "Vol. 6 was nearly prepared for press, 
one town printed." Gilman's Bibliography says, "A 



Contributions to Vermont History 247 

sixth volume comprising the towns of Windsor county 
is in the press, and will complete the work." If Vol. 6 
was ever published we have not the good fortune of secur- 
ing a copy. Great energy and tact mark Miss Hemen- 
way's work, and she leaves behind an enduring monu- 
ment. 

CONANt's VERMONT AND CONANt's PRIMARY HISTORICAL 

READER. 

The next text books, and the ones more generally 
used than any previously mentioned, are these very com- 
mendable and useful books written by Edward Conant, 
and published by The Tuttle Co. at Rutland. The first 
edition of Conant's Geography, History and Civil Govern- 
ment of Vermont (commonly called Conant's Vermont) 
of 288 pages, was sent out in 1890, and a revised edition in 
1895. The Primary Historical Reader of 234 pages came 
in 1895. These works, designed for all grades of Vermont 
school children, have had, as they are entitled to have, a 
most favorable reception. The writer believes they have 
done more to arouse an interest in the study of Vermont 
than any other text books ever published. Mr. Conant 
was a true Vermonter, a genuine Yankee, an educator of 
wide experience, and withal a man who knew much of 
the needs and demands of our common schools. The new 
Collins history mentioned in the opening of these sketches, 
though most excellent and useful in its place, should never 
be allowed to supplant the Conant books. Their treat- 
ment of Vermont is so widely different that there is not 
the slightest danger of a collision, either head-on or rear. 
Every school in Vermont, as well as every family, should 
count among their treasures both Conant and Collins. 



248 Horace Ward Bailey 

Some one will doubtless prepare a better text book than 
either, — it would not be a difficult task, — but in lieu of 
such a preparation, let Vermont hold fast and make good 
use of what she has. The Tuttle Co., publishers of Con- 
ant's works, have secured the services of Hon. Mason 
S. Stone, superintendent of education, to revise these 
publications, and this is a sufficient guarantee that they 
will be abreast of the times and fit the schoolhouse to a T. 
Edward Conant was born at Pomfret, May 10, 1829, and 
died January 5, 1903. His life work was teaching and he 
attained high rank in his profession. He was the author 
of text books other than the ones herein mentioned. Mr. 
Conant died in the harness, being principal of the Ran- 
dolph Normal school at the time of his death. 

Wilbur's early history of Vermont, 

Wilbur's Early Histor}^ of Vermont, four volumes, — 
Vol. 1, 1899, 362 pages; Vol. 2, 1900, 419 pages; Vol. 3 
1902, 397 pages; Vol. 4, 1903, 463 pages, all published at 
the Roscoe Printing House, Jericho. Mr. Wilbur must 
be a true lover of Vermont and her history. One may 
reasonably expect a cash compensation for all kinds of 
labor, but a painstaking historian capable of delving, with 
force of character to persist, and ability to arrange and 
make interesting as Mr. Wilbur has done, seldom gets full 
compensation, except in the self-consciousness of having 
done something good. In a long list of histories one 
must read with a view to criticism to be able to judge 
with wisdom. Mr. Wilbur's history excels in the care 
given and pains taken in producing and arranging dates, 
which is a fundamental factor in making history valua- 
ble. It may be said with a large degree of truth that 



Contributions to Vermont History 249 

there is but little new old history. Nevertheless, Mr. 
Wilbur has been a successful delver, and his arrange- 
ment of chapters, subjects and tables is admirable, and 
this history deserves a place on the shelf of every per- 
son who loves our Green Mountain state and her makers. 
Lafayette Wilbur was born at Waterville, May 15, 1834. 
He was educated at the academies near his home, studied 
law with Thomas Gleed, and was admitted to the bar in 
Lamoille county at the December term, 1851. He has 
been a successful lawyer and man of affairs, and his Early 
History of Vermont will be a worthy memorial to a worthy 
historian long years after Mr. Wilbur has been gathered 
to his fathers. So far as the writer is informed, Mr. Wil- 
bur and Mr. Collins are the only persons living in this long 
list of notable historians. Mr. Wilbur resides at Jericho. 

Vermont's Civil War Historj^ has been written care- 
fully, concisely, and is most interesting reading. Not a 
single student of Vermont history can do without Ver- 
mont's war record in cold type. By authority of the gen- 
eral asssembly, Theodore S. Peck recompiled and revised 
the roster of Vermont soldiers in the Civil war. It con- 
tains 863 pages, pubhshed at the Watchman office, 1892. 
Theodore S. Peck was born at Burlington, March 22, 
1843, and served through the entire war. He was colonel 
of the First Regiment Vermont National Guard for a num- 
ber of years, and was adjutant and inspector general of 
the state for many years. He was very well equipped for 
this work as his roster demonstrates. A copj- can be 
found in the offices of the town clerks. 

By far the most comprehensive view of Vermont in 
the Civil war has been given by Lieut. G. G. Benedict of 



250 Horace Ward Baeley 

Burlington in two very well written volumes aggregating 
1500 pages, published bj^ the Free Press Association, 
1886-1888, and in a special edition, 1889. Mr. Benedict 
is probably Vermont's most competent living historian, 
and the history of our various military organizations has 
been made a careful and untiring study by him. He was 
in the service, and saw service, and his version of Vermont 
troops was not bounded by the horizon of his own brigade. 
George Grenville Benedict was born at Burlington in 1826, 
and for many years has been one of Vermont's foremost 
and most respected citizens. 

Vermont in the Great Rebellion by Major Otis F, 
Wait, 300 pages, published at Claremont in 1869, is a most 
readable little book and condenses much Vermont war 
history into small space. 

George N. Carpenter published a history of the Eighth 
Vermont, 335 pages, Boston, 1886. Chaplain E. M. 
Haynes performed the same duty for the Tenth Regiment, 
249 pages, 1870. 

Aldace F. Walker published the Vermont Brigade in 
the Shenandoah Valley, 190 pages, Burlington, 1869. 
Under the title of "Life in Camp," Corp. J. C. Williams 
records the doings of the 14th Vermont Volunteers, 168 
pages, Claremont, N. H., 1864. 

Col. William C. Holbrook of the Seventh Regiment 
wrote of its services in the south, 219 pages, New York, 
1882. He was the second son of Governor Holbrook. 

F. J. Hosmer of the Fourth Regiment wrote an in- 
teresting sketch of one phase of army life under the cap- 
tion "A Glimpse of Andersonville, " 90 pages, Springfield, 
Mass., 1896. 

Hon. Edwin F. Palmer of Waterbury, ex-state super- 



Contributions to Vermont History 251 

intendent of education, wrote of the "Second Brigade," 
224 pages, Montpelier, 1864. 

S. B, Pettingill wrote of a company of Dartmouth 
college students in the war under the title of "The College 
Cavaliers." Many of them were Green Mountain boys. 
96 pages, 1883. 

Gen. William Y. W. Ripley wrote a most interesting 
history of Co. F, First U. S. Sharpshooters, 204 pages, 
Rutland, 1883. "The Proceedings of the Reunion Society 
of Vermont Ofhcers " is a book of nearly 500 pages, published 
at Burlington in 1885. It contains in its orations and pro- 
ceedings much of Vermont's war history, presented in 
lucid and patriotic style and very readable. 

Other Verm outers have written of the Civil war; we 
have however listed the principal writers whose energy 
and ability have led them to detail the triumphs, 
defeats, the ups and downs of Vermont troops in the Civil 
war. 

To these various historical works should be added 
several other volumes not usually listed with Vermont 
histories, but nevertheless, worthy to be classed as his- 
tories, for they contain the actual early records in detail. 

the governor and council. 

By the authority of the state, Hon. E. P. Walton pub- 
lished in eight volumes of over 4000 pages, The Records of 
the Council of Safety and Governor and Council. These 
publications extended over a period of seven years from 
1873-1880. To one who loves to delve in all the conditions 
of statehood, the conventions, and constitution, together 
with the early acts of the legislature, these volumes are 
invaluable. The contents of each volume are given on 



252 Horace Ward Bailey 

page 293 of Gilman's Bibliography from which a brief 
history of Vermont books can be gained. 

The collections of the Vermont Historical society, 2 
vols., 1870-71. These collections published by the His- 
torical society contain something more than 1000 pages 
of printed matter and are on a par with the ''Governor and 
Council." Much valuable historical data is gathered and 
preserved in these pages which do not appear in any other 
place in such concise and interesting form. Vol. 1 contains 
the Ira Allen history of Vermont, reproduced for preserva- 
tion. Vol. 2 contains the celebrated Holdimand negotia- 
tion papers. A table of contents of these volumes is given 
in Gilman's Bibliography, page 310. Many of the sub- 
sequent publications of the society in pamphlet form are 
rich in history. 

Blade's State Papers. 

Its title page gives something of an idea of the scope 
of the book, to wit: "Vermont State Papers, being a col- 
lection of records and documents connected with the as- 
sumption and establishment of government by the people 
of Vermont, together with the Journal of the Council of 
Safety. The first Constitution, the early journals of the 
General Assembly, and the laws from the year 1779 to 1786 
inclusive, to which are added the proceedings of the first 
and second council of censors. Compiled and published 
by William Slade, junior. Secretary of State, Middlebury, 
J. W. Copeland, printer, 1823." 

William Slade was born in Cornwall, Vt., May 9, 
1786, graduated from Middlebury college in 1807. Lawyer, 
editor and bookseller, secretary of state, 1815-1823, gover- 
nor, 1844-46, member of congress, 1831-43. Died at Mid- 
dlebury January 18, 1859. 



Contributions to Vermont History 253 

Thus it will be seen that Slade's State Papers, 567 
pages, was gathered, edited and sent out to the world by 
a man, competent as to time and ability. A lover of early 
conditions in Vermont cannot afford to be without Slade's 
State Papers. 

Gen. John Stark's Widow. 

The following appeared in the Burlington Free Press 
of January 17, 1913: 

To the Editor of the Free Press: 

Not long ago the following letter appeared in the Free 
Press : 

" When a resident of a neighboring town lately in- 
formed me that the widow of the famous John Stark, whom 
he made immortal in the phrase known to every school 
boy, lay in a neglected cemetery and in an even more 
neglected grave within 20 miles of where these words are 
printed, it was received with considerable skepticism. 

"Upon inquiry, however, among old inhabitants, I 
found a tradition to that effect, as she is reported to have 
deceased while on a visit to her daughter (who, by the way, 
gave evidence of being as intrepid as the famous father 
on more than one occasion), and with some pains a stone 
was found bearing the following inscription: 

EUNICE 

wife of 

CAPTAIN JOHN STARK, 

died 

January 29, 1843, 

AE 101 YR. 



254 Horace Ward Bailey 

" For the credit of Vermont patriotism, which has never 
been found wanting to the writer's knowledge, this should 
be looked after. 

" Respectfully, 

"FRANKLIN H. DEWART. 
" Burlington, December 30, 1912." 

Mr. Dewart's letter relates to an historical subject 
of importance and interest. I am not surprised that Mr 
Dewart received this report from a resident of a neighboring 
town "with considerable skepticism." First because Gen. 
Stark's wife was not Eunice. Second because Gen. Stark's 
wife did not die in 1843; and third because she was not 
buried in Vermont. 

Gen. John Stark, scout and militiaman in the French 
and Indian war period, hero of Bunker Hill and Benning- 
ton, the most conspicuous figure of our early days, was 
born in Nutfield, now Londonderry, N. H., August 28, 
1728, and died May 8, 1822. On August 20, 1758, he mar- 
ried Elizabeth Page, who was born February 16, 1737-8; 
they were the parents of 11 children. The history of the 
town of Dunbarton, N. H., has this paragraph: 

"A stone near General Stark's monument at Man- 
chester (N. H.) is thus inscribed: In memory of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Stark who died June 29, 1814, in the 77th year 
of her age." At this time General Stark was 86 years old 
and was never again married. 

An article written about General Stark in the Granite 
Monthly in 1879 explains why General Stark spoke of his 
wife as Molly at the battle of Bennington, when her name 
was Ehzabeth, "Stark was married at the age of 30 to 
Elizabeth Page of Dunbarton. With a whimsical propen- 



Contributions to Vermont History 255 

sity for nicknames he seldom called any of his family by 
their true names. According to the custom of the day 
Mrs. Stark's name would be shortened to Betty or Bess, 
but her husband invariably called her Molly. This will 
be remembered as the name he used in his speech to his 
troops at Bennington. "The victory is ours or Molly 
Stark sleeps a widow." John Stark had a son John, 
who was married to Polly Huse, which would cut him out 
from having a wife Eunice, unless by a second marriage. 
Would Mr. Dewart be willing to tell the public where the 
burying ground is situated that contains the stone with 
the inscription which he quotes? 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 
Newbury, Vt., January 16, 1913. 

This letter brought two replies from unexpected sources. 
The first letter was from a former resident of Rutland, 
which appeared in the Rutland Evening News of January 
22, 1913, from Thomas Benton Kelley who wrote as fol- 
lows: 

Editor Evening News: 

In perusing your issue of January 18, 1913, my eye 
caught a letter written by Franklin Dewart, relative to a 
neglected grave located near Burlington, whereon was this 
inscription: ''Eunice, wife of Capt. John Stark, died 
January 29, 1843, aged 101 years." 

Now if I am not clean daft that spot holds the dust 
of my paternal great grandmother. I think her maiden 
name was Adams, of Canterbury, Conn. 

In the autumn of 1842 my mother and my eldest 
brother (Isaac D. Kelley, then ten years old) visited my 
great grandmother, then residing on Grand Isle, driving 



256 Horace Ward Bailey 

in a single team from Castleton. They were gone from 
home nearly four weeks. It was the first time in my life 
that my mother had left me at home, and it made a vivid 
impression on my mind to have her go, but that was the 
last time my mother ever saw her grandmother, as my 
family moved to Illinois in 1846. My own mother was the 
eldest daughter of Ephraim Jones, who married Rachel 
Stark, who was the third daughter of Capt. John Stark of 
Pawlet, and who commanded the Pawlet Company at the 
battle of Bennington. My own mother lived w^ith me 
nearly 11 years after my father's death. She was born 
in Pawlet, April 6, 1798. She was 14 3'ears old at the time 
of the war of 1812, and often told me of having to catch 
"Old Pomp" to supply the Courier, taking a despatch 
from Plattsburg, N. Y., to Bennington, of the battle. 

If my memory is not at fault, mother claimed her 
grandfather as cousin to General Stark. I think Horace 
W. Bailey is straight in his diagnosis, but Capt. John 
Stark was at Bennington in command of the Pawlet Com- 
pany, and I myself am a member of the Vermont Division 
of the Sons of the American Revolution on that score. 

I served three years in the civil war and I am proud 
of my own service in the old 8th Illinois Cavalry, as Gen. 
Grant was commanding the Union armies. I am in my 
75th year and glad my old eyes caught the letters referred 
to. 

THOMAS BENTON KELLEY. 

Boston, January 21, 1913. 

More Stark history was contributed by a New York 
resident who wrote the Rutland Evening News of February 
6, 1913, as follows: 



Contributions to Vermont History 257 

To The Rutland News: 

In your issue of January 18 you published an article 
relative to the grave of the widow of Maj. Gen. Stark, 
quoted from the Burlington Free Press. 

I have spent some time in tracing the Stark family 
and I find that one Nathan Stark made his appearance in 
Guilford in 1781. His first wife was a Morgan and his 
second Esther Gallup. There were 16 children by the two 
wives. This Nathan Stark was without much doubt a 
descendant of Aaron Stark of Mystic, Conn. 

Maj. Gen. John Stark of Bennington fame was de- 
scended from a line that came to America over a century 
later than did Aaron. 

United States Marshal Horace W. Bailey is right 
in regard to Maj. Gen. John Stark's wife being Elizabeth 
Page. If any reader is observing he will notice that the 
gravestone of Eunice, mentioned in the Free Press article, 
calls the deceased the wife of Capt. John Stark and not 
Gen. John Stark. 

Capt. John Stark was an early settler at Pawlet. 
Hollister in his history of Pawlet says: "Capt. John 
Stark, we believe from New Hampshire," and farther 
on says: "He was cousin of Gen. John Stark." Both of 
these statements are probably false, as he can be traced to 
Canterbury, Conn., where his marriage is recorded to 
Eunice Adams and the birth of two children is on record. 
He was at Shaftsbury prior to his settlement in Pawlet. 

There is no John Stark in the New Hampshire family 
that seems to fit in for the Capt. John Stark of Pawlet. 
Descendants of the captain have said that his wife died 
at the age of 101 years, which tradition fits in with the 
tombstone. HoUister states that Capt. John removed to 

(17) 



258 Horace Ward Bailey 

Grand Isle about 1800 and was soon after killed by the 
kick of a horse. None of his descendants know where he 
is buried and if Mr. Dewart could find his grave stone or 
a record of his death, giving his age, it would shed con- 
siderable light as to which of a number of Johns he was. 

Deborah, daughter of Nathan Stark, of Guilford 
tradition, would place Nathan and his family near the 
scene of the battle of Bennington prior to his advent into 
Guilford, as there is also a tradition of a cousin John to 
Deborah (she married Ezra Duel). 

Nearly every one of the Stark name tries to claim re- 
lationship to the major general, whereas the larger per- 
centage are descended from the settler at Mystic, Conn. 

G. A. GOODSPEED. 
Granville, N. Y., February 5, 1913. 

The concluding letter of Mr. Bailey's in this interesting 
series appeared in the Rutland Evening News of February 
12, 1913, and here follows: 

I have read the letters of Thomas Benton Kelley and 
of G. A. Goodspeed relating to Gen. John Stark and Capt. 
John Stark and the Stark family, generally. 

In answer to my letter of inquiring through the Bur- 
Hngton Free Press to Mr. Dewart, who started this interest- 
ing historical discussion, a reply was made by Mrs. Landon 
of South Hero, a great-granddaughter of Capt. John Stark, 
in which the claim is made that Gen. John and our Ver- 
mont Capt. John Stark were cousins. Mr. Kelley agrees 
with Mrs. Landon that they were cousins, and Mr. Good- 
speed dissents. 

That the readers of The News may have the advan- 
tage of the entire discussion, I am submitting Mrs. Landon's 



Contributions to Vermont History 259 

letter. If it is finally established that the Capt. John 

Stark was an early settler in Bennington county, and the 

captain of the Pawlet company at the battle of Bennington, 

then this controversy is not in vain, whether or not the two 

Starks were cousins. 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 

Rutland, February 12, 1913. 

Mrs. Landon's Letter. 

In reply to Hon. Horace W. Bailey may I tell the 
public where the burial ground lies that has the stone which 
marks the grave of Eunice Stark? 

Eunice Stark, whose maiden name was Adams, was 
the widow of Capt. John Stark, and was buried in Fairfax. 
A granddaughter and a great-grandson of her are living 
there. 

Capt. John Stark was a cousin of General Stark and 
one of Col. Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys. He 
died at South Hero in 1807, on the farm now owned by 
W. L. Stone, on which a barn is standing known as the 
"Stark barn." 

In 1783 Gov. Chittenden granted the "Long Island" 

in Lake Champlain, known to be called "Two Heroes," 

to Col. Ethan Allen and his associates. John Stark's 

name is in the charter which is recorded in the town clerk's 

office in South Hero. 

MIRIAM P. LANDON. 

A great granddaughter of Eunice Stark. 

South Hero, Vt., January 20, 1913. 

In connection with this series of letters Mr. Bailey 
had pasted into one of his Scrap Books two letters from 
Mr. Dewart, giving some interesting sidelights upon the 



260 Horace Ward Bailey 

matter under discussion. Mr. Dewart's first letter was 
written from Burlington to Mr. Bailey and appeared after 
Mr. Bailey's first letter was published in the Free Press. 
It was dated January 17, 1913: 

I was in Rutland yesterday and hoped to see you and 
learn your opinion regarding the Mollie Stark incident, 
but am perhaps sufficiently enlightened regarding your 
opinion from your letter to the Free Press of this morning. 

It struck me with surprise that the grave could be that 
of the noted widow of Gen. Stark and, as you have probably 
noted upon carefully reading my communication, I felt 
anything but dogmatic in attempting to pass upon the 
question raised. 

I found the grave in Fairfax, Vt., and so informed 
the editor in a private note accompanying the communica- 
tion, wishing to avoid the possible censure which might 
fall upon a town that had allowed neglect to obscure such 
a grave; had the assurance of three of the oldest and most 
intelligent inhabitants that they so understood the case; 
spent half a day in our library attempting to get data 
which would confirm or disprove the claim, and after the 
cursory examination which my professional duties per- 
mitted, wrote the letter in the hope of at least interesting 
the proper persons in the situation. 

I am at a loss to account for Captain John Starks 
(the final letter was omitted by the compositor in setting 
up my letter, but that alone would not be a sure sign of 
false diagnosis, nor of sufficient weight to daunt one who 
has followed the muse through ancient tombstones), and 
the dates which your letter affords do not render it likely 
that he could have been a son of the General Stark. 

The daughter married a Blowers, who lived in Fair- 



Contributions to Vermont History 261 

fax, but has no descendants now resident there, so no local 
aid is afforded. 

I presume the roster at Montpelier would give cor- 
rect information with the least trouble respecting the 
officer whose past I seem to have brought into the lime- 
light. I was surprised at the dearth of information to 
be found in our Mary Fletcher Library on attempting to 
get the facts respecting Mrs. Stark, and had to finally rely 
upon my recollections from school days that she was not 
named Molly for all I discovered here. 

After the publication of Mrs. Landon's letter Mr. 
Dewart wrote Mr. Bailey from Burlington, under date of 
January 27, 1913: 

I presume you have seen the Free Press of the 22d 
inst. in which Mrs. Miriam Landon, town clerk of South 
Hero, states that she is a granddaughter of Eunice and 
John Stark, and that John Stark was cousin to Gen. John 
Stark, thus making further inquiry needless. I am glad 
to stand corrected by you and her, and hope the incident 
has stirred up some interest in such matters, even though 
it proved a false scent. 

The Cannon at the State Capitol. 

The following contribution appeared in the Mont- 
pelier Journal of March 1, 1911, eliciting at the time highly 
complimentary editorial notice in the same paper, the 
editor characterizing the article as a most interesting and 
valuable contribution to the history of the state and 
worthy of preservation by all students of Vermont history: 

The battle of Bennington and the events leading up 
to it are well established facts in history. Creasey, in his 
Fifteen Decisive battles, gives a place in the list to the 



262 Horace Ward Bailey 

battle of Saratoga. Looking back through the years it 
is easy to see that the battle of Bennington was a far more 
decisive and important engagement than the one which 
followed later at Saratoga. It is no stretch of the imagina- 
tion, nor distorting of historical fact, to say that brave 
John Stark with his rugged woodsmen compeers gave 
the voluminous proclaiming Burgoyne such a vigorous 
set-back that he became a crippled warrior, a much dis- 
appointed commander-in-chief, to the end that he could 
never fully recover, and that his ultimate defeat and sur- 
render was a logical sequence of the battle of Bennington. 

It is a well-known fact that the two cannon which have 
for so many years adorned the portico of our State capitol 
were taken at the battle of Bennington, but the interesting 
details of securing these guns for the state of Vermont is 
well nigh forgotten history. 

I trust that it will be a pleasure to many of the, readers 
of the Journal to trace the steps by which these war 
trophies were secured. 

On October 20, 1848, an address was delivered before 
the Legislature of Vermont on the battle of Bennington, 
the occasion being in celebration and commemoration of 
receiving and dedicating these cannon. 

The Rev. James Davies Butler, then pastor of the Con- 
gregational church at Wells River, delivered the principal 
address from which the following quotations are made: 

"You have doubtless long wished my next word to 
be my last. I ought not, however, to conclude without a 
more special notice of the cannon before me, which have 
occasioned this concourse. It is a common opinion that 
these field pieces, were of French manufacture, and taken 
by Wolfe at Quebec. But the manufacturer's name, 



Contributions to Vermont History 263 

plainly marked on them, is J. & P. Verbeggen — a name 
no Frenchman and none but a Dutchman will claim. The 
date of their casting, also legible upon them, is 1776, 
or but one year before they came into the power of 
Stark. 

"By reason of the British broad arrow or crowfoot 
marked upon them, they have been considered of British 
workmanship; but the mark is thought by good judges not 
to have been cast, but cut with a graver. The weight 
of each of the pieces is marked upon it — that of the one is 
209, that of the other 213 pounds. They are called by 
our War Department three-pounders. According to Stark 
they are four-pounders. Of the four guns taken at Ben- 
nington I am inclined to think that these we now gaze 
upon were the two siezed at the storming of the redoubt; 
for these, as I have said, have never been rated more than 
four-pounders, while the others were of larger calibre, 
and therefore more likely to accompany the larger force 
under Breymann. These, then, are the guns of which 
Stark, describing the evening conflict, says: 'We used 
their own cannon against them, which proved of great 
service to us.' 

"The two pieces we rejoice at inheriting this evening 
were in Hull's park of artillery and were surrendered with 
his army at Detroit, exactly 35 years from the day they 
came into the hands of Stark. The British officer of the 
day ordered the evening salutes to be fired with them, and 
his eye happening to rest on the words graven upon them: 
'Taken from the Germans at Bennington, August 16, 1777,' 
he declared he would add these words, 'Retaken from the 
Americans, August 16, 1812.' 

"Happily before he found leisure to execute his threat, 



264 Horace Ward Bailey 

these artful dodgers shifted masters once more, being re- 
gained by our troops at the capture of Fort George." 

It may be interesting to look into the matter of how 
the securing of these trophies came about, which can best 
be done by quoting from a footnote in Mr. Butler's ad- 
dress : 

"Those pieces were first espied by our indefatigable 
antiquarian, Henry Stevens, Esq., (of Barnet) while, in 
his own expressive phraseology, he was mousing around 
the arsenal at Washington. He soon roused an interest 
regarding them by these words in his report to Governor 
Slade: 'Even the cannon taken from the Germans at 
Bennington are now deposited in the United States Ar- 
senal in the District of Columbia as trophies, unpaid for 
by the General Government, and quietly acquiesced in 
by the Green Mountain Boys.' 

"Thereupon, the Governor in his next message thus 
spoke: 'The closing recommendation of Mr. Stevens in 
regard to the cannon taken at Bennington, it gives me much 
pleasure to commend to your favorable consideration. 
If there is a man in Vermont whose blood would not course 
more quickly thro' his veins on seeing in our State House 
these trophies of the crowning act of Vermont valor, I 
am much mistaken.' 

"In consequence it was reported by a committee, and 
received by the two Houses that the Governor be requested 
to demand of the General Government the four brass 
cannon taken by the Green Mountain Boys from the 
British at Bennington, and the same when received to 
deposit in the State House at Montpelier. 

"Upon the Governor's application to the Secretary 



Contributions to Vermont History 265 

of War, the delivery of cannon was declined by the Na- 
tional Executive, and the Governor referred to Congress 
as the appropriate body to place said cannon at the dis- 
posal of this State. Hence it was resolved by the two 
Houses of the Vermont Legislature: 

"'That the Senators of this State in Congress, and 
the Representatives, are requested to use their exertions 
to obtain an order of Congress for the delivery of said 
cannon, to be deposited in the State House as a memorial 
of the valor which achieved the victory so honorable to 
the Green Mountain Boys.'" 

These matters came before the Legislature at the 
sessions of 1843-4-5, a record of which may be found in 
the Senate and House Journals for those years, and the 
success of the venture will develop as we proceed with 
the story. 

So far as the writer can ascertain, the exact detail of 
the proceedings in Congress leading up to the securing of 
these cannon has never been published in Vermont, and is 
here given in full: 

"House of Representatives. 
"Tuesday, January 13, 1846. 
"The Green Mountain Boys. — Mr. Collamer presented 
'a resolution of the Legislature of the State of Vermont, 
requesting the United States to give up to that State the 
four pieces of brass cannon taken by the Green 'ountain 
Boys from the British army at Bennington on the 16th 
of August, 1777, for the purpose of depositing the same 
in the State House at Montpelier, as a memorial of the 
valor which achieved a victory so honorable to those 
brave boys, and so signally important in effecting the 



266 Horace Ward Bailey 

liberties of our nation. Referred to Committee on Mili- 
tary Affairs." 

This resolution relating to the four pieces of brass 
cannon failed to pass. Two years later better results 
attended the endeavor, as the transcript of the House 
Journal of the Thirtieth Congress, which follows, is ample 
evidence : 

"In Congress of the United States, Thirtieth Con- 
gress — First Session. Monday, July 3, 1848. House of 
Representatives. The Journal having been read: 

"Vermont Revolutionary Trophies. — Mr. Collamer, 
by leave, introduced the following joint resolution: 

" ' Resolved, etc., That two brass field-pieces cap- 
tured from the enemy at the battle of Bennington, in the 
State of Vermont, in 1777, now in the possession of the 
United States, be immediately well mounted, under the 
direction of the Secretary of War, and delivered to the 
Governor of the State of Vermont, to be hereafter holden 
as the property of said State.' 

"The resolution having been read a first and second 
time, Mr. Collamer addressed the House to the following 
effect: 'Mr. Speaker, a motion has now been entertained, 
that when this House adjourns, it will adjourn to the 5th 
instant, and this is, therefore, for all the practical pur- 
poses of this House, the 4th of July. I therefore take this 
as a fitting occasion to present this resolution. I am 
sensible that the House has little of time or patience to 
listen to a subject to them of so little interest or import- 
ance, and I will therefore state, as concisely as possible, 
the history of the two field-pieces mentioned in the resolu- 
tion, and the claim of Vermont to the same. 

" 'In 1775, before the Declaration of Independence, 



Contributions to Vermont History 267 

and immediately after the commencement of hostilities 
with England, the people of Vermont — then called the 
New Hampshire Grants — captured the fortresses of Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point, and therein took 113 pieces 
of cannon, six mortars, and three howitzers, good for ser- 
vice. These all passed into the service of the United 
States; and the people of Vermont have received no com- 
pensation. This constituted the basis of the artillery 
with which the War of the Revolution was achieved. 
In 1776 little but disaster attended the American arms. 
In 1777 Gen. Burgoyne entered the country from Canada 
with his imposing army of invasion — the best appointed 
and best furnished army, though not the largest, ever 
landed in America. 

" 'He captured Ticonderoga, opened the whole north- 
ern frontier, pushed forward to the Hudson, and spread 
consternation through the country. It should, however, 
be remarked that he had some proper appreciation of 
Vermont. In the published journal of his expedition, as 
it advanced, will be found this entry of Gen. Burgoyne: 
"The Hampshire Grants, in particular, a country un- 
peopled and almost unknown in the last war, (that is, 
the old French war), now abounds in the most active and 
rebellious race on the continent, and hangs like a gathering 
storm upon my left." There was a depot of provisions 
at Bennington, in Vermont, and a detachment of Bur- 
goyne's army, under Col. Baum, was sent to capture it; 
and upon this detachment this gathering storm burst like 
a tornado. Sir, I wish it remembered that no United 
States troops were present. 

" 'It was the people of Vermont, assisted by their 
neighbors of New Hampshire, under the gallant Stark, 



268 Horace Ward Bailey 

and a few bold neighbors from Berkshire, Mass., who 
overthrew this army under Baum, behind their log breast- 
work, and captured over 700 men, besides the killed and 
dispersed; and then it was that they took these two field- 
pieces. Did they not belong to that people? But, sir, 
they were wanted by the country. They were taken 
down to the Hudson, and constituted a part of the artillery 
in the battles of Bemis' heights and Saratoga, which re- 
sulted in the capture of the whole British army. They 
have been retained by the United States ever since. Sir, 
the expenses of Vermont in the Revolution have never 
been settled, or a dollar of them repaid. Their efforts at 
Ticonderoga, at Hubbardton, at Bennington, and even 
those of the last war, when Vermont rose en masse and 
went to the rescue of Plattsburgh, have never been ad- 
justed, or a dollar paid therefor by the nation. 

" 'All I now ask is, that you return to Vermont these 
two field-pieces which you have kept 70 years, and now, 
having worn out their carriages, you have thrown them 
aside as valueless, outside your Arsenal; and there, sir, 
you may now see them, neglected and corroding; but 
there is chiselled on them the precious memento that 
they were captured at Bennington, 1777. This govern- 
ment regards them as of no value. May we have them? 
We will put them in the vestibule of our granite capitol, 
and they shall be kept bright in patriotic, filial, and grate- 
ful remembrance of our fathers' valor. Again, I ask, may 
we have them?' 

"The resolution was then read a third time and passed 
unanimously." 

This resolution, which asked for only two brass field- 



Contributions to Vermont History 269 

pieces, was passed in concurrence by the Senate on July 
10, 1848. 

On the 27th of July, 1848, an order was issued from the 
ordinance office in pursuance of this resolution, and on the 
8th of August the cannon were delivered at the Watervliet 
Arsenal (near Troy, N. Y.) to Henry Stevens, who had 
been deputed by the Governor of Vermont to receive 
them. A few weeks later these famous field-pieces reached 
their destination and were installed by appropriate exer- 
cises on October 20th, as above stated. 

There is not, so far as I am able to learn, any record 
of the disposition of the other two field-pieces, said to be 
six-pounders. 

This article closes with biographical sketches of Mr. 
Stevens, Mr. Collamer and Rev. J. D. Butler and was 
followed by another historical contribution in the Mont- 
pelier Journal of May 4, 1911. In this article Mr. Bailey 
informs us that the third gun is known as the "Molly 
Stark Gun" and is the proud possession of the town of 
New Boston, N. H. The fascinating story of the part 
this gun played in the war of 1812 appeared in an article 
in the Manchester Union of May 12, 1909, much of which 
Mr. Bailey quotes in his second contribution to the Mont- 
pelier paper. The mate of the "Molly Stark Gun" was 
placed on a New Hampshire privateer during the war of 
1812 and was lost at sea. "This," says Mr. Bailey, 
"seems to very satisfactorily dispose of the four cannon 
taken in the battle of Bennington." 

A Vermont Electrician. 

In connection with the unveiling of a tablet at Brajidon 
on September 28, 1910, to Thomas Davenport, in honor of 
his electrical discoveries, Mr. Bailey contributed the fol- 
lowing to the Rutland Evening News of that date: 



270 Horace Ward Bailei 

It is highly proper that the Vermont Electrical Associa- 
tion, at its ninth annual meeting to be held at Brandon, 
should make Thomas Davenport the grand central figure 
of the celebration. Electrical scientists are now agreed 
that Thomas Davenport was the inventor of the electric 
motor, and that his inventions and patents covered the 
principles now in use. 

Franklin Pope, an authority on the subject, writing 
of Davenport's achievements for the Electrical Engineer 
of February 4, 1891, in his conclusion says: 

"The conclusion necessarily follows that the in- 
vention thus identified was conceived and embodied in 
concrete operative form by Thomas Davenport, at least 
as early as July, 1834; was exhibited and described to 
others prior to January 5, 1835, and covered by letters 
patent of February 25, 1837. If, therefore, this patent, 
which expired in February, 1851, was in force today, it is 
not too much to say, that upon a fair judicial construction 
of its claim, every successful motor now running would be 
embraced within its scope." 

When full justice is done to Thomas Davenport, he 
will have a place in history with Fulton, Watt and Morse. 

The unveiling of a tablet to his memory at Forest- 
dale in the town of Brandon is certainly a long step in the 
right direction. All the proceedings should be given to 
the public, which will be a step towards the education of 
the people up to the fact that this great Vermonter and 
inventor is receiving his just dues. 

Thomas Davenport was born in Williamstown, in 
Orange county, July 9, 1802, He served an apprentice- 
ship as a blacksmith and removed in 1823 to Brandon 
where he lived and carried on the trade of blacksmithing, 



Contributions to Vermont History 271 

but neglected that work for the more congenial work 
which has made him famous. He worked hard and died 
poor, July 6, 1851. 

On November 7, 1900, his son, Rev. Willard G. Daven- 
port, read a paper on the life work of his distinguished 
father before the Vermont Historical Society at Montpelier, 
which is published in their proceedings. 

Legislative Deadlocks. 

After the state election of 1912, in which there was no 
election for Governor by the people, the Randolph Herald 
and News expressed the fear that a deadlock might arise 
in the Legislature which might extend through the entire 
session, adding that no such instance had ever risen before 
in the history of the state. This editorial elicited the 
following historical contribution from Mr. Bailey which 
appeared in the Randolph paper in its last issue of October. 

Editor of the Herald and News: 

By some inadvertence you have overlooked the stir- 
ring times in Vermont politics during the anti-Masonic 
campaigns, compared with which our present strenuous 
mix-up falls flat. 

As a matter of interesting though ancient history 
will you grant space for a brief statement of those cam- 
paigns. 

In 1828-9 Samuel Crafts was governor. 

In 1830 three candidates were in the field, Samuel 
Crafts, National Republican and Masonic candidate, 
had 13,486 votes; William A. Palmer, anti-Masonic, 
10,925 votes; Ezra Meech, Democrat, 6,285 votes. There 
was no choice and in the legislature Mr. Crafts won by 
one majority on the 32d ballot. 



272 Horace Ward Bailey 

In 1831 Palmer had 15,528 votes; Heman Allen, 
National Republican, 12,990; Ezra Meech, Democrat, 
6,158; scattering 270. There was no choice and Palmer 
was chosen by the legislature on the ninth ballot, having 
114 votes out of 227. 

In 1832 Palmer had 17,318 votes; Crafts, 15,499, 
Meech, 8,210. There was no choice and in the legislature 
Palmer was chosen governor on the 43d ballot, having 
111 votes against 72 for Crafts, 37 for Meech and one 
scattering. 

In 1833 the people elected Palmer for governor by 
popular vote. He had 20,565 votes; Meech, 15,683, 
Horatio Seymour, Whig, 1,765; John Roberts, 772; scatter- 
ing 120. 

In 1834 Palmer had 17,131 votes; William C. Bradley, 
Democrat, 10,385; Seymour, Whig, 10,159; scattering, 84. 
Again there was no choice and Palmer was chosen in the 
legislature on the first ballot, having 126 of the 168 votes 
cast. 

In 1835, Palmer had 16,210 votes; Bradley, 13,254; 
Paine, Whig, 5,435; scattering 54. There was no choice 
and in the legislature 63 ballots were taken, covering the 
period from October 9 to November 2. During this time 
the highest vote recorded for Palmer was 112 out of a total 
of 226. The assembly was dissolved by a vote of 113 to 
100 without the election of a governor, and under the con- 
stitution Lieut-Gov. Silas Jennison became acting gov- 
ernor. 

Mr. Jennison was born in Shoreham May 17, 1791, 
and was elected governor by popular vote every year from 
1836 through 1840. He declined an election in 1845 and 
was the first native-born governor elected in Vermont. 



Contributions to Vermont History 273 

William A. Palmer was born in Hebron, Conn., Sep- 
tember 12, 1781. He came to Chelsea about 1802 and 
studied law with Daniel Buck, being admitted to the 
Orange county bar. He lived a while in Brownington, 
Derby and St. Johnsbury and finally settled in Danville 
about 1807. He was county clerk, judge of probate, town 
representative several terms, county senator, member 
of the constitutional convention in 1827, 1836 and 1850, 
judge of the supreme court, 1816-17, and United States 
Senator 1818-25, being first chosen to fill out the unex- 
pired term of James Fiske. 

In 1832 political conventions first came into use. At 
that time the Democrats nominated Andrew Jackson; 
the National Republicans nominated Henry Clay, and the 
anti-Masonic party nominated William Wirt for their 
presidential candidates. Jackson had 219 electoral votes: 
Clay, 49; Floyd; 11; Wirt, 7. Vermont cast her seven 
electoral votes for Wirt and these were the only votes cast 
for the anti-Masonic candidate. 

Vermont History, A Plea for Its Study. 

The Bennington Banner of October 11, 1911, contained 
the following letter from Mr. Bailey, which is a strong plea 
for the study of the history of our state: 

Editor of the Banner: 

Permit me to call attention to three notable historical 
addresses made by Hon. James K. Batchelder of Arlington. 

First, at the dedication of the Stark monument at 
Peru on August 7, 1900. 

Second, at the dedication of the new depot at Arling- 
ton, July 4, 1911. 

Third, at the dedication of the Seth Warner monument 

(18) 



274 Horace Ward Bailey 

on the Bennington battle monument grounds August 16, 
1911, the two last being published in full in the Evening 
Banner. 

The Peru monument marks the camping place of Capt. 
John Stark en route with his troops from Charlestown, 
N. H. ("Old No. 4") over the Green Mountains to take 
part in the battle of Bennington. This monument is a 
granite obelisk 23 feet high, located on the north road 
leading from Peru village, about 50 rods north of the Brom- 
ley house and within a few rods of the actual camping 
place of the Stark troops. A tablet on the monument 
bears this inscription: "Encampment of General John 
Stark, August 6, 1777, while on the march with one thou- 
sand men from Charlestown, N. H., through the woods to 
the battle of Bennington. Erected August 7, 1899, by 
the Sons and Daughters of Vermont." The corner stone 
was laid on the date above mentioned with appropriate 
exercises, which were published in pamphlet. The dedi- 
cation occurred one year later (August 7, 1900) at which 
time Mr. Batchelder delivered an historical address with 
John Stark as his text. Hon. D. K. Simonds delivered 
a poem. Senator Dillingham, Governor McCullough 
and others took part. So far as the writer is able to ascer- 
tain these proceedings were never published in pamphlet, 
the only account of this great historical event being meager 
newspaper write-ups. The enterprise of the Evening 
Banner has given us the other addresses of Mr. Batchelder 
in full, but why stop here? 

Patriots of Peru, of Arlington, of Bennington, citizens 
of Bennington county, until you gather these historical 
matters, and put them in shape for the benefit of future 
generations, you are remiss in your duty. 



Contributions to Vermont History 275 

John Stark! Thomas Chittenden! Seth Warner! a 
trio of patriotic heroes, makers of Vermont history, illus- 
trious in the annals of general history. Who can measure 
the time devoted to the study of these historic characters, 
or estimate the energy expended in research by Mr. Batch- 
elder, in bringing into panoramic view the men who laid the 
foundations of our statehood, and the events which have 
made our history unique. No one has told the story of 
Warner and Chittenden more plainly, directly or com- 
drehensively, and it may be assumed that the story of 
Gen. Stark is in the same class. 

These addresses should be preserved and placed in 
every Vermont schoolroom for supplemental reading. 

It is wrong and unpatriotic to let the well-directed 
labor and conceded ability of such men as Mr. Batchelder 
ooze out at the finger tips of an historically slothful com- 
munity. 

Men of Bennington county, had your ancestors been 
as listless about preserving and saving the historical labor 
of Hiland Hall, Isaac Jennings, Maria Hemenway and 
others, as you now seem to be, much of the luster of your 
annals and the truth of your history would have passed 
beyond recall. 

There has been written the history and story of Stark 
and Chittenden and Warner, but it was written so long 
ago that the books that contain it are rare, very scarce 
and costly, hence not available. Therefore, the argu- 
ment is, that when any person has the historical spell, 
the impulse and ability to search and research, to read all 
the authors, cull all sources of information, to seek in 
nooks and corners of creation for legend, lore and history, 
to sift, compile, arrange and deliver, (as Mr. Batchelder 



276 Horace Ward Bailey 

has done) for the entertainment and enlightenment of the 
populace, it is the duty of the town or community to pre- 
serve by the printing press for the future. 

Vermont is remiss in its duty to the present and future 
until it establishes a department of history to gather, 
compile, publish and preserve a precious heritage for the 
future. Newspapers are, as they always have been, the 
great public bulletin board of education, and are now, 
with rare exceptions, the sole publishers of history, but 
they cannot do all that the exigency of the present, or the 
welfare of the future, requires to be done. 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 

Mr. Bailey was as ready to commend when occasion 
required, for only a few months previous a letter appeared 
in the Rutland Evening News congratulating the saluta- 
torian of the graduating class of the Rutland High School 
for taking historical themes for their addresses. On a 
another occasion he was highly indignant as he came to 
the Rutland schools to speak on the history of Vermont 
to find that the schoolrooms had no maps. When he 
discovered this fact he left the school building in high 
dudgeon and never returned to deliver his address. This 
action elicited considerable newspaper comment at the time, 
much of which was highly commendatory of his action 
and his forceful manner to impress upon the local school 
board the necessity of having the proper supplies in their 
school rooms. 

Matthew Lyon in History. 

(From the Montpelier Journal, April 2, 1912). 

The campaign of 1902 was the most celebrated and 
the trials of the candidates the most vexatious of any 
within my recollection, but compared with the political 



Contributions to Vermont History 277 

doings in the very beginning of our statehood, this cam- 
paign dissolves into thin air. For instance your atten- 
tion is invited to a brief statement of Matthew Lyon, the 
famous fighter of Fair Haven, whose career I consider the 
most remarkable of any in our annals. 

Matthew Lyon was born in Wicklow county, Ireland, 
in 1746, and came to America at the age of 13 years, and 
became indentured for the payment of his passage, as was 
the frequent custom of those times. 

Some years intervened in which little knowledge of 
him is obtainable. He is next found in the service of 
Governor Thomas Chittenden at Arlington before Mr. 
Chittenden's election as first governor of Vermont, Lyon 
at the time having a wife and four children. Subse- 
quently his wife died and he married Governor Chitten- 
den's daughter, Beulah, who bore him four more children. 

In 1776 he was in the continental army under General 
Gates, in Captain Fassett's company, was stationed for 
awhile at Jericho, and did faithful service, obtaining the 
rank of colonel. 

From 1778 to 1780 he was deputy secretary to the 
governor and council as well as clerk of the court of con- 
fiscation. 

His first appearance in Vermont legislature was in 
1779 as the representative from Arlington and he was 
elected to the three following sessions. In 1783 he re- 
moved from Arlington to Fair Haven, proceeded to or- 
ganize the town, built mills, started industries and in the 
largest sense became the father of the town. 

In 1793 he established and began printing a paper in 
his paper mill called the "Farmer's Library." Several 
books were printed on this press. 



278 Horace Ward Bailey 

111 1798 during one of his campaigns for congress, he 
published a semi-monthly magazine called the Scourge 
of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Political 
Truths. 

He was Fair Haven's first representative, being chosen 
in 1783, receiving 10 elections thereafter, which gave him 
a full 15 years' service in the Vermont legislature. 

In 1786 he was assistant judge of the Rutland county 
court. 

Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791 and 
Lyon was a candidate for congress that year, being de- 
feated as he was twice thereafter. Israel Smith and 
Isaac Tichenor, afterwards governors of Vermont, were his 
successful competitors. His fourth attempt in 1796 was 
successful. His first speech in congress was on November 
24, 1797. 

On January 30, 1798, the hero of Fair Haven had an 
unhappy controversy of words on the floor of the house, 
with Roger Griswold of Connecticut, which came near a 
serious altercation. During this escapade he spat in the 
face of Griswold. A resolution was introduced to expel 
Mr. Lyon for ''gross indecency" which passed by a vote 
of 52 to 44, lacking the necessary two-thirds required to 
expel a member. 

Not being satisfied with the outcome of this un- 
pleasantness, Mr. Griswold on February 20 approached 
Mr. Lyon who was seated at his desk on the floor of the 
house and began striking him with a hickory stick. As 
soon as he could gain his feet Lyon gave fight, pushing his 
assailant toward the fireplace where he grabbed the tongs, 
the only available weapon at hand. The fight terminated 



Contributions to Vermont History 279 

in a clinch in which both went to the floor, Lyon on the 
bottom. Fellow members succeeded in separating the 
combatants, whereupon a resolution to expel both of 
these unruly solons failed of passage by a vote of 73 
to 21. 

In 1798 congress passed the famous "Sedition Law," 
doling out severe punishment to any person who should 
write or publish words of calumny against the government 
or its high officials. 

About this time the Windsor Journal attacked Mr. 
Lyon. This brought forth a reply by the frightened 
Irishman, which was made the basis of an indictment 
at a term of the United States Court in Rutland, which 
came to trial at the October, 1798, term, Samuel Hitch- 
cock, district judge, presiding, the trial taking place in 
what is known as the old state house now standing on 
West street in this city. 

All the court officials belonged to the federal party, 
which was opposed to Matthew Lyon, and it was a time 
when politics was seething. Matthew Lyon and his friends 
claimed he did not get an impartial trial. He conducted 
his own case, his defense being that the so-called seditious 
letter was published June 20, 17 days before the passage 
of the law under which he was indicted. 

The tide was against the defendant and he was fined 
$1000, the costs amounting to S60.96, and sentenced to 
four months imprisonment. At that time the law gave 
the United States marshal the discretion of the jail to 
which the prisoner should be committed. Marshal Jabes 
Fitch, being a resident of Vergennes, committed the prisoner 
to the jail at that place, where he was treated with un- 
necessary severity amounting to positive hardships and 



280 HoKACE Ward Bailey 

deprivations. His term of imprisonment expired Feb- 
ruary 9, 1799, at 8 a. m. 

During the service of his jail term he was again re- 
elected to congress over no less celebrated and distinguished 
persons than Rev. Samuel Williams, who had at that time 
written and published Vermont's first history, and Daniel 
Chipman, one of Vermont's most distinguished lawyers 
and citizens, by a majority of over 500 votes. 

Immediately upon his release from jail Congressman 
Lyon started for Philadelphia where congress was in ses- 
sion. His progress through Vermont, en route, was a 
grand triumphal march, probably the most sincere and 
yet spectacular ovation ever accorded mortal being in the 
Green Mountain State. He took his seat in congress on 
February 20 and on the same day a resolution was offered 
for his expulsion which passed by a vote of 49 to 45, again 
lacking the two-thirds necessary to expel. During his 
term in congress he took an active part in the presidential 
election which went to the house, supporting Jefferson 
against Aaron Burr. 

After this term in congress. Fair Haven's fighter did 
not return to Vermont to live, his time having been so 
much devoted to politics and the pubHc weal that his busi- 
ness had gone to waste. 

He removed to Eddyville, Lyon county, Kentucky, 
where he induced a small colony of Vermont families to 
settle around him. 

In his new home he entered into politics with his old 
time desperation, establishing the first printing press in 
that state and entering into commercial and ship building 
industry. 

In 1802 he was elected to the Kentucky legislature and 



Contributions to Vermont History 281 

in 1803 or 1804 was elected to congress from his adopted 
state where he remained until 1810. 

In 1812 he had a contract with the government for 
building ships but was not financially successful, making 
an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, his son, 
Chittenden Lyon, stepping into the breach to save the 
honor of the family name. 

In 1820 he made application to Congress for the re- 
funding of the fine imposed on him in Vermont together 
with the damages. A remittance of the fine and costs 
were made to his family after his death. 

About 1820 he was appointed by President Monroe 
"Factor of the United States" with the Cherokee Indians 
in Arkansas from which territory he was chosen first dele- 
gate to congress, but he died August, 1822, before taking 
his seat. 

The convention of 1777 which promulgated Vermont's 
first constitution, established and appointed a "council 
of safety" of 13 members, to exercise legislative, execu- 
tive and judicial powers, until a state government could 
be formed and laws enacted. 

Although having hardly crossed the threshold of his 
remarkable career, Matthew Lyon was chosen a member 
of that council. 

In discribing the individual members of this council, 
Daniel P. Thompson, author of "The Green Mountain 
Boys" and various other historical novels relating to the 
early history of Vermont, after mentioning certain other 
members of the council says: "Next to them was seen 
the short burly form of the uncompromising Matthew 
Lyon, the Irish refugee, who was willing to be sold, as he 
was, to pay his passage, for a pair of two-year-old bulls, 



282 Horace Ward Bailey 

by which he was wont to swear on all occasions. In his 
eagle eye and every lineament of his clear, ardent and fear- 
less countenance, might be read the promise of what he 
was to become, the stern democrat, and unflinching cham- 
pion of the whole right and the largest liberty. 

The Daniel P. Thompson Memorial. 

By a joint llesolution passed by the Legislature of 
1910 the Governor was authorized to appoint a commis- 
sion of three to submit to the Legislature of 1912 plans for 
the erection of a suitable memorial for Daniel P. Thomp- 
son, author of the "Green Mountain Boys." Gov. Mead 
appointed on this commission Mr. Bailey, Hon. William 
J. Van Patten of Burlington and Representative Marshall 
J. Hapgood of Peru. Mr. Bailey, as chairman of the com- 
mission, prepared the following report which was sub- 
mitted to the General Assembly of 1912: 

The duty imposed by the resolution creating this 
commission is entirely preliminary. 

Daniel Pierce Thompson was born near Bunker Hill, 
October 1, 1795. He came to Berlin, Vermont, in child- 
hood where his parents settled on a farm. 

Graduated from Middlebury College in 1820, he soon 
after began the practice of law in Montpelier, where the 
remainder of his life was spent, and where he died June 6, 
1868. His mortal remains He buried in yonder Green 
Mountain Cemetery, his grave is unmarked. 

His grandson, Charles M. Thompson, of Boston, editor 
of the Youth's Companion, in a letter under date of Octo- 
ber 10, 1912, addressed to a member of this commission, 
replying to the proposition to erect a memorial at the 
grave, says: 

"One thing more: while I appreciate most highly the 



Contributions to Vermont History 283 

generous feeling of the State and shall be most grateful 
for any public memorial, I could not tolerate any public 
interference with his grave. The lot in Green Mountain 
cemetery in which he is buried belongs to me." 

Mr. Thompson held many positions of public trust- 

He was Clerk of the House of Representatives, Secre- 
tary of State, Clerk of the County and Supreme Court and 
Judge of Probate. 

He was the author of the history of Montpelier, a 
compiler of Vermont laws, and a writer of historical novels. 
His fame as a writer rests on the greatest of all Vermont 
stories, "THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS." 

Judge Thompson did more to hand down and per- 
petuate the early patriotic history of Vermont than any 
other person living or dead. In the "Green Mountain 
Boys" and other of his writings he has woven into en- 
chanting story the great drama of the first fifty years of 
our existence. 

He stands at the head of Vermont historical story 
writers, indeed we know of no author excelling in this line 
of work. 

His portrait in oil hangs on the walls of the large re- 
ception or art room in this building. 

We recommend that a suitable bronze tablet be placed 
beneath the portrait with inscription and emblem fitting 
one of Vermont's most distinguished citizens and authors, 
containing a list of his books, giving special prominence 
to his masterpiece, "The Green Mountain Boys." 

We recommend that the Sergeant-at-Arms and the 
Librarian of the Vermont Historical Society be made a 
committee to procure and establish the bronze tablet. 

We recommend that the General Assembly invite 



284 Horace Ward Bailey 

the Vermont Historical Society to dedicate, with appro- 
priate historical exercises, the Thompson Tablet at its 
annual meeting in 1914. 

We recommend that a sum of money, not to exceed 
five hundred dollars be appropriated for the purchase of 
this memorial tablet, and that no part of the appropria- 
tion shall be used for the payment of the services of any 
person in the procurement or dedication of the same. 

The above report was accepted by the Legislature and 
the Commission procured the bronze tablet that was recom- 
mended. This tablet was placed beneath the portrait 
of Mr. Thompson in the Reception room at the State 
Capitol. 

Bennington's Declaration of Independence. 

This remarkable document wherein 37 citizens of 
Bennington about 1775 resolved never to become slaves 
and associated themselves together to defend their liber- 
ties, was first found in the Phil Hubbell House in 1897, 
and was sold at auction in New York city in 1912 for 
$910.00. The document was purchased by Hon. J. G. 
McCullough and his son, Hall Park McCullough, and then 
presented to the Vermont Historical Society. At the 
time of this purchase Mr. Bailey wrote the following 
comment to the Montpelier Journal: 

This is indeed a very rare find, a precious heirloom, 
containing volumes of patriotic history. It tells a better 
story of the inception and growth of liberty in the hearts 
of Vermont's sturdy settlers than the pen of the most 
facile writer could do. 

It may be truthfully said that Bennington is the 
most remarkable historic town in Vermont. First granted, 
and first permanently settled, it was the home of many a 



Contributions to Vermont History 285 

hero, civil and military. Its historians rank the highest; 
nevertheless neither written chapter, oration nor faithful 
tradition can ever speak as forcefully, as eloquently, or 
as truthfully of the motive power in the human soul that 
impelled men to aggression and resistance, that pushed them 
into a long and continuous struggle for home and liberty, 
causing them to carve out of the wilderness, and wrench 
from stronger forces on every cardinal side, the Republic 
of Vermont, than this plain, almost unlettered declara- 
tion of the early settlers of Bennington. 

Added luster gathers around this historic document 
when we remember that it was not promulgated, like so 
many present day manifestos, to be published in the papers 
for glory and effect. This document had its birth before 
a newspaper had been published in Vermont; at a period 
when goose quill, parchment and pamphlet were the only 
means of publicity, yet it exudes liberty, breathes peace and 
symbohzes a fighting patriotism which only real men, 
heroic men, could have declared to their fellow citizens and 
to the world. 

The text of this remarkable document is as follows: 
" Persuaded that the Salvation of the rights and liber- 
ties of America deposed under God, on the firm union of its 
inhabitants, in a vigorous prosecution of the measures 
necessary for its safety and convinced of the necessity 
of preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend 
a dissolution of the Powers of Government, we the free- 
holders and inhabitants of the town of Bennington, on the 
New Hampshire Grants in the County of Albany and prov- 
ince of N. York being Greatly alarmed at the avowed 
design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and 
shocked by the bloody scene now acting in the Massa- 



286 Horace Ward Bailey 

chusetts bay do in the most solemn manner resolve never 
to bee slaves; and do associate under all the ties of religion, 
honour and love to our Country to adopt, and endeavor 
to carry into execution whatever Measures may be recom- 
mended by the Continental Congress or resolved upon 
by our Provincial Convention for the preserving of our 
Constitution and opposing the execution of several Arbi- 
trary and oppresive acts of the british Parliament, until 
a reconciliation between Great Britain and America on 
Constitutional principals, which we most ardently desire 
can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the 
advice of our general Committee Respecting the Purposes 
aforesaid, the preservation of Peace and Good order, and 
the safety of individuals and Private Property. 

" Ebr. Wood, Elijah Dewey, Nathan Clark, Benjn. 
Whipple and Jonathan Scottland, committee. Jeremiah 
X (his mark) Carpenter, Gosiah Fuller, David Bates, 
Eleazr Harwood, Benja. Hopkins, Thos. Jewett, Nath- 
aniel Lawrence, Samuel Atwood, Jr., David Whipple, 
CorneHus Cony, Ehvaim Wood, John Smith, Ephraim 
Smith, Samuel Atwood, Reuben Bass, Elisha Higgein's, 
Griffin X (his mark) Briggs, Jonathan Scott, Archelas 
Nipper, Nathan Clark, Jr., Stephen Hopkins, Josiah 
Bough, David Safford, Pawnel Mosely, Saml. Montagu, 
Gideon Spencer, Thomas Tupper, Lehben Armstrong, 

Cyrus Blackman, Clark, Joseph Safford, Berijah 

Hulber, Hamar Hebard." 

A Pair of Peaceful Patriots — Thompson and 
Robinson. 

The following tribute to two Vermont writers ap- 
peared in the Rutland Evening News of November 23, 1912: 



Contributions to Vermont History 287 

It is easy to praise men who have marched to martial 
music. 

It is second nature to memorialize patriots of war 
by land and sea. 

It is humankind to immortalize leaders who have 
exerted great powers in subduing enemies and establishing 
republics. 

A nation or commonwealth or municipality, failing 

to pay homage to its patriots of war, perpetuating their 

lives and achievements by enduring memorial, is remiss 

in its duty to the past, and its obligation to the future. 

* 
Vermont is coming to her own along this line, not swiftly, 

but surely. 

It would require a volume of no mean size to chronicle 
all the memorials erected within our borders to com- 
memorate those who have waged war for liberty and 
peace. 

It is plainly a human instinct that makes it easy to 
declaim of terrible events, to recite of martyrdom, crusade 
and crimson warfare. 

:{c ^ :<« :{: ^ :jc 4: 

But are the Patriots of Peace less deserving? The 
foundation of our country rests on its homes, and they 
who contribute abundantly to their stabilit}'^, purity and 
education are no less patriotic in every fibre of their being, 
no less deserving of enduring memorial. 

To discharge her duty to this class of patriots, Ver- 
mont is coming to her own more slowly. 

Looking back through the years one may find many 
Patriots of Peace, deserving the attention of our state, 
and her social, religious, educational and patriotic societies. 



288 Horace Ward Bailey 

May we not consider such patriots at this time, Ver- 
mont's two greatest novelists — 

Daniel Pierce Thompson; born at Charlestown, Mass., 
October 1, 1795. He came to Vermont in childhood, 
graduated from Middlebury college, class of 1820, having 
had his preparatory course at Randolph and Danville. 
His life was spent in Montpelier, where he died June 6, 
1868. 

He was lawyer, judge of probate, clerk of the courts 
and house of representatives, editor of the Green Mountain 
Freeman, 1849-53. 

He must have been an all around busy man when we 
consider that in addition to the many duties falling to his 
various official positions, he wrote the following books: 
"The Adventures of Timothy Peacock," 1835; "May 
Martin or the Money Diggers," 1835, republished in 1852 
with the shorter stories, "The Guardian and Ghost," 
"The Shaker Lovers," "Ethan Allen and the Lost Chil- 
dren," "The Young Sea Captain," "The Old Soldier's 
Story," "A New Way to Collect a Bad Debt," and "An 
Indian's Revenge;" "The Green Mountain Boys," a his- 
toric tale of the early settlement of Vermont, 1840; "Locke 
Amsden or the Schoolmaster," 1847; "Lucy Hosmer or 
the Guardian and Ghost," 1848; "The Rangers or the 
Tory's Daughter," a tale illustrative of the Revolutionary 
history of Vermont, 1851; "Gaut Gurley or the Trappers 
of Umbagog," 1857; "The Doomed Chief or 200 years 
ago," 1860; "Cenatola and other Tales," 1864. 

In 1850 Judge Thompson delivered an address before 
the Vermont Historical society on "The Birth of the First 
Constitution and Council of Safety." 



Contributions to Vermont History 289 

In 1864 Judge Thompson wrote a sketch of the life 
and services of Ira Allen which was published in the Ver- 
mont Record at Brandon. This sketch, together with the 
address above mentioned, were re-published in the pro- 
ceedings of the Vermont Historical society, 1908-1909. 

"History of the Town of Montpelier, 1781-1860." 
This history contains an appendix giving the most com- 
plete account of pre-historic Indian occupancy in the Ver- 
mont territory ever published. 

Judge Thompson's masterpieces, the works that 
made him famous, and that have done more to perpetuate 
early Vermont history than all other historical novels 
combined, are "The Green Mountain Boys" and "The 
Rangers." 

The present session of the legislature proposes to 
memoralize this distinguished Patriot of Peace by placing 
a bronze tablet beneath his oil portrait in the Art room 
in the State house at Montpelier. 

Rowland Evans Robinson; born in Ferrisburg, Vt., 
May 14, 1833; died in Ferrisburg, Vt., October 15, 1900. 

Except for a short period spent in New York as a de- 
signer on wood this Patriot of Peace was a farmer on the 
ancestral farm, establishing a home noted for its culture 
and hospitality. 

He was historian, novehst, and writer of nature 
stories, as will be seen by a list of his books: "Uncle 
Lisha's Shop," 1887; "Sam Lovel's Camps," 1889; "Ver- 
mont, a Study of Independence," 1892; "Danvis Folks," 
1894; "In New England Fields and Woods," 1896; "Uncle 
Lisha's Outing," 1897; "A Hero of Ticonderoga, " 1898; 
"In the Green Wood," 1899; "A Danvis Pioneer," 1900; 
(19) 



290 Horace Ward Bailey 

"Sam Level's Boy," 1901; "Hunting Without a Gun and 
other tales," 1905; "Out of Bondage," 1905. 

These Patriots of Peace were as dissimilar as the titles 
of their books indicate, as their portraits demonstrate. 

Judge Thompson was a delver in musty tomes, digging 
deep in documents, searching the folklore of the times. 

Story writing may have been his pastime, but history 
was his serious business. He seemed to dwell in the heights, 
near lowering clouds, in an atmosphere surcharged with 
the boom of gun, the rattle of musketry, the huzzas of 
contending forces. 

He seemed to pierce mountain fastness, rocky cave 
and block-house shelter. He saw the sterner side of life, 
in the home of aristocrat or plebeian, he saw only realities; 
few of his characters were mirth-provoking. He built 
stories as a carpenter would build a house, by rule; he 
wrote history which has stood the test of years with pea 
dipped in arctic ink. 

Rowland Robinson was exactly different. For him 
the thunderings of Sinai had no charm; he lived in the 
mellow sunshine of life. 

He loved to commune with nature in her hills and 
vales and streams. Bird and animal and fish were his 
loved and loving companions. 

People in lowly homes were his neighbors; in them 
he saw the honest homely side of life. His story of early 
days, his description of odd characters with quaint dialect 
is charming. He wrote history as no other Vermonter has 
written it. Nature's book must have lain wide open 



Contributions to Vermont History 291 

before him; his tintings were selected from genial seasons. 
He became totally blind in 1893, after seven years of grad- 
ually failing sight, so that a larger portion of his books 
were written in the gloom. But through sightless eyes 
he saw supernal nature; out of this great soul into all his 
books flowed streams of milk of human kindness. 

The lives of this Pair of Peaceful Patriots cover a 
century of time, and their works follow them. After all 
the years "The Green Mountain Boys," "The Rangers," 
"Locke Amsden, " and "Gaut Gurley" may be had at 
book stores in cheap editions, and nearly all the Robinson 
books are current. Rutland conditions would be sub- 
stantially improved if the fathers and mothers would 
organize themselves into a committee for the purpose of 
steering the sons and daughters up against these Patriots 
of Peace, keeping a supply of their books within reach. 
Young people, especially boys, love this class of reading. 

Rutland may well be proud of its large class of Peace- 
ful Patriots. Standing at the end of this class are Rev. 
Samuel Williams, D.D., LL.D., and Judge Samuel Williams, 
founders of the Rutland Herald in 1794. 

So far as the 20th century Rutland is concerned, the 
mortal remains of these most distinguished citizens repose 
in the North Main street cemetery without suitable monu- 
ment, and their heroic endeavor for this community in 
its beginnings nearly forgotten. 

Samuel Williams, minister, Vermont's first historian, 
most polished scholar and gentleman, eloquent preacher, 
most erudite editor and author. 

Samuel Williams, judge, father of Rutland, promoter 



292 Horace Ward Bailey 

of her early industries, benefactor of the first settlers, 
chief man of affairs, just judge. 

Rutlanders are industrious in soliciting and generous 
in contributing for noisy and profitable carnivals and 
numerous other events which may add coin to their coffers, 
and temporary glory to their annals, and it is well. 

Why not enrich and perpetuate our grand history hy 
devoting some of our industry and a portion of our means to 
the establishment of a permanent memorial to the makers of 
this history? 

Why not adorn our beautiful park by erecting thereon 
a memorial fountain, dedicating Park and Fountain to these 
Peaceful Patriots? 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 293 



CHAPTER XIII . 

BIBLIOGRAPHY— MISCELLANEOUS. 

Mr. Bailey's collection of Vermont Pamphlets was one 
of the most complete in the country and included some of 
the rarest known specimens of the early days of the his- 
tory of the State. The collection embraces 130 bound 
volumes and includes early catalogues of educational 
institutions, the first reports of various religious bodies, 
numerous election sermons, political pamphlets and ex- 
tensive collections of documents published under the 
authority of the Legislature. No attempt has been made 
to catalogue in this book this great collection, but the list 
that follows is a bibliography of the Vermont pamphlets 
in Mr. Bailey's collection that are not given in Oilman's 
Bibliography of Vermont. Included in this remarkable 
collection are typewritten copies of many of the historical 
articles that he had contributed to the Vermont papers, 
while Volume 102 is a compilation of various historical 
events, mostly prepared by himself. This interesting 
volume bears his own portrait as a fitting frontispiece and 
at the close of the original articles is appended his auto- 
graph. The major portion of this volume is devoted to a 
history of the towns chartered in Vermont prior to 1763, 
together with detailed reports of all their historical cele- 
brations and pageants. This volume of over 300 type- 
written pages contains little that is not original and is a 



294 Horace Ward Bailey 

most valuable addition to the town histories of those early 
communities. 

Abstract of an Act to Provide for the Valuation of 
Lands and Dwelling Houses, and the Enumeration of Slaves 
within the United States. To which Are Added Instruc- 
tions and Regulations for the Principal and Assistant 
Assessors made in Pursuance of said Act; and the Instruc- 
tions of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 
Published by order of the Board of Commissioners at Ver- 
gennes. 1798. Printed by G. and B. Waite. 8vo. pp. 36. 

University of Vermont. Exposition of the System 
of Instruction and Discipline Pursued in the University of 
Vermont. By the Faculty. Second Edition. Printed 
by Chauncey Goodrich at Burlington. 1832. 8vo. pp. 32. 

Coolidge, Carlos, Esq. An Address Delivered before 
Vermont Lodge, at the Public Celebration of the Anniver- 
sary Festival of St. John, the Baptist, at Hartland, June 
24, A. L. 5826. Published by Request of the Lodge. 
Windsor. Printed by Wyman Spooner. 8vo, pp. 24. 

Congregational. A serious address of the Consocia- 
tion of the Western District of Vermont and parts ad- 
jacent; presented more particularly to the people in its 
vicinity. Rutland. 1801. Printed at Rutland by Will- 
iam Fay. 12mo, pp. 8. 

Headley, J. T. The One Progressive Principle. 
Delivered before the literary societies of the University 
of Vermont, August 1846. Printed by John S. Taylor. 
Svo. pp. 32. 

Ballou, Hosea. Oration by Rev. Hosea Ballou, de- 
livered at Hartland, Vt., July 4, 1807. 8vo. pp. 24. 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 295 

Catalogue of the officers and students of Waterville 
College and of the clinical school of medicine at Woodstock, 
Vt., connected with the college. 1830-1. 8vo. pp. 24. 

Shaw, John B. A sermon preached at Castleton, 
Vt., December 3d, A. D. 1848, at the funeral of Mrs. Edgar 
M. Griswold by Rev. John B. Shaw, pastor of the Con- 
gregational church at Fairhaven, Vt. "Death Gain to 
the Christian." Flushing. 1849. Printed by Charles 
R. Lincoln. 

Wells, G. C. A missionary sermon preached before 
the Troy Annual Conference at Middlebury, Vt., May 
21, 1858. St. Albans. Printed by E. B. Whiting. 8vo. 
pp. 27. 

The Ex-Chief Justice and the Printer. Being a report 
of a trial for libel. Titus Hutchinson vs. B. F. Kendall. 
Had before the Honorable County Court for the County 
of Windsor, May term, 1836. Which closes with an epi- 
taph on a broken-down office seeker. Woodstock, Vt. 
1836. Printed by J. B. and S. L. Chase & Co. 8vo. pp. 
72. 

Crosby, Dixi. Report of a Trial for alleged mal- 
practice against Dixi Crosby, M. D., Professor of surgery, 
etc., in the Dartmouth Medical College, in the Windsor 
County Court at Woodstock, May term, 1854. Verdict 
for Defendant. Woodstock. Printed by Lewis Pratt. 
1854. 8vo. pp. 85. 

Bill, Bristol. Life and exploits of the noted criminal 
Bristol Bill. By Greenhorn. New York. Published by 
M. J. Ives & Co. Price 15 cents. 8vo. pp. 101. 

Shepard, Sylvanus. A short history of Lafayette, 
etc. Contains also the poems "Champlain Victory," 



296 Horace Ward Bailey 

"Perry's Victory on Lake Erie," "The Three Indian 
Brothers," "The Weeping Damsel." Danville. Printed 
by E. & W. Eatoa. 1826. 12mo. pp. 12. 

Hall, S. R. Confession of faith and covenant of the 
church in Concord, Vt. With notes, references and re- 
marks. By Samuel Read Hall Pastor. 1826. Printed 
by E. & W. Eaton. 12mo. pp. 8. 

Dred Scott Decision. Report of the select committee 
on slavery, the Dred Scott decision, and the action of the 
Federal government thereon, submitted November 15, 
1858. Montpelier. Printed by E. P. Walton. Followed 
by House Bill, li. 270, reported by Mr. Marsh of Brandon, 
"An act to secure freedom to all persons within this state." 
House of Representatives document. 12mo. 32 pp. 

Clift, William. Farm Life, a School of True Man- 
hood. An address at the tenth annual fair of the Ben- 
nington Co. Agricultural Society, September 24, 1857. 
By Rev. William Clift. Printed by T. J. Tiffany at the 
Banner office, Bennington, 1857. 8vo. pp. 16. 

Castleton Medical College. Triennial catalogue of 
the officers, corporation, instructors, graduates and stu- 
dents of the Vermont Academy of Medicine. 1829. 

The Hermit. Being a miscellaneous collection in 
prose and verse. From Parks' press, Montpelier, 1808. 
Small 12mo. pp. 34. 

Waterville College. Catalogue of the officers and 
students of Waterville College and of the Clinical School 
of Medicine, at Woodstock, Vt., connected with the col- 
lege. 1830-1. 

Vattemare, Alexander. Proceedings and instruc- 
tions concerning the system of International, Literary 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 297 

and Scientific Exchanges, established by Alexander Vat- 
temare. Published by order of the Legislature of Ver- 
mont. With an introduction by Zadock Thompson. 
1848. Free Press. Burlington. 8vo. pp. 80. 

Sermon preached in Lancaster, N. H., on the anniver- 
sary of our National Independence, July 4th, 1812, before 
the Washington Benevolent Societies of Lancaster and 
Guildhall, and Published at their Request. By Joseph 
Willard, A.M., Pastor of the Church in Lancaster. Printed 
at Windsor, Vt., by Thomas M. Pomloy. 1812. 8vo. 
pp. 16. 

Marsh, Charles, Essay on the amendments proposed 
to the constitution of the State of Vermont, by the council 
of censors, delivered at the celebration of Washington's 
birthday at Norwich, on the 22d of February, 1814. Han- 
over, N. H. 1814. Printed by Charles Spear. 8vo. pp. 
24. 

Address to the Freemen of Vermont by their delega- 
tion to the National Republican Convention, holden at 
Baltimore, Maryland, in December, 1831. Middlebury. 
H. H. Houghton, printer. 8vo. pp. 16. 

Narrative of Bro. John P. Weeks, Who Was Sick, 
whose Spirit Left the Body, Was Conducted to PARADISE 
by an Angel, Looked over into HELL and Returned to 
the body again; the Body Recovered Health; and Related 
the Adventures in Both Regions; TOTALLY Disproving 
the Advent Doctrine of the Soul's Sleeping in the Grave 
and Annihilation of the Wicked. First printed in a Cal- 
edonia county newspaper in 1843. One hundred and fifty 
copies printed at Newport, Vt., in 1890, by S. C. O'Connor 
for Peter Connal, Esq. 12mo. pp. 41. 



298 Horace Ward Bailey 

Mr. Bailey's Home, the Old Brick Schoolhouse. 

THE dreamer and THE TOILER. 

Mr. Bailey's home in Newbury was an old brick 
schoolhouse very comfortably fitted for what he had every 
reason to anticipate would be a home free from public cares 
and private worries. It is situated on the plateau above the 
Connecticut river with Moosilauke and the White Moun- 
tains in the distance across the fertile valley. In one of 
his later Scrap Books is this beautiful reference to his 
home: 

"I am tired of planning and toiling 

In the crowded lives of men; 
Heart weary of building and spoiling, 

And spoiling and building again. 
And I long for the dear old river 

Where I dreamed my youth away; 
For the dreamer lives forever and 
The toiler dies in a day. " 

An Appreciative Sketch. 

In the fall of 1909 a series of biographical sketches 
appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer written by Harry 
B. Shaw, now of the Rutland Herald, under the charac- 
teristic title, "Verdant Mountain Patriots." No. 21 — 
"A Square-deal Apostle" — elicited the following favorable 
comment from the editor of the Montpelier Journal: 

This sketch is all wool and a yard wide. There 
isn't a man in the state with a bigger heart, or one who 
loves Vermont better than Horace W. Bailey, and any 
list of useful citizens of this commonwealth, however 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 299 

small and exclusive, that leaves out the name of the present 
United States marshal will be incomplete, 

"No. 21" here follows: 

Orange county has furnished several good working 
models within the last half century, but she pins her faith 
to one in particular and the rest of Vermont backs her up 
in her claim that she has a simon-pure specimen of the true- 
blue, square-deal patriot. Though his business office is 
at Rutland, his heart is at home in old Newbury. He will 
be 58 years old, January 16, and while he looks the part he 
does not act any older. Like many other Orange county 
patriots, he got into politics, but his game has always been 
a square one and today he has a post with the federal 
government that he can keep as long as Taft has a look-in 
at Washington. 

"Uncle" Horace is an optimist clear to the wire. 
No man ever saw his brow decorated with a frown. Even 
when the surgeons decided to relieve him of one of his feet 
and a section of a leg, Horace didn't see the necessity of 
his friends sending bouquets before the administration of 
the ether. Horace suggested there was no reason to play 
him as a candidate for a funeral. He asked that instead 
of posies his friends buy cigars. He did not succumb to 
the skill of the man with the hack-saw. His habits have 
always been such as go with the building of a rugged con- 
stitution. He looks like a humorist and is, when occasion 
offers. He has one fad — Vermont History. Horace can 
floor the ordinary student of Vermont history with the 
first five questions. He doesn't make any noise about it, 
but he probably knows more of the history of Vermont 
than any other individual, or two of them, in the state. 

Horace Ward Bailey's counsel may be relied upon. 



300 Horace "Ward Bailey 

He ought to have been a lawyer, for he has a judicial mind. 
"Hod" will listen to a tentative political frame-up and hand 
out an opinion that will prove good every time. He hasn't 
any enemies nor a wife. Horace will never reach the age 
linit where he can't prove interesting to his friends. 

Though his job of United States marshal brings him 
against some of the sad things, Horace smooths out the 
wrinkles and more than one unfortunate has had his burden 
materially lightened by listening to Bailey's philosophy. 
Though the newspapers have done their part in exploiting 
Horace Bailey, the man's own works are his best press- 
agent. Bailey's philosophy is simple. Be square. Two 
words cover it. Horace Bailey never went back on a 
man and men don't go back on him. Barring Senator 
Page and Ex-Governor Proctor, Bailey has probably a 
wider circle of acquaintances in Vermont than any other 
man. The women folks admire Horace. He would let 
them vote. When the suffragettes are permitted to use 
a ballot in Vermont they will vote Bailey into some posi- 
tion of honor. Horace loves Vermont and children. He 
keeps a scrap book and mighty little happens in Vermont 
that Horace doesn't clip and paste into it. Once in a while 
he does a little writing in which he bares his love for 
Vermont. He looks like a comedian, but he is a Metho- 
dist. 

In 1902 when the thirsty ones were fighting to put a 
crimp into the prohibition law, Horace as a member of the 
Committee of Fifteen, was the rubber heel that acted as 
the official shock absorber when the drys and wets attempt- 
ed to hit in a clinch. After that session Horace's fame 
spread. When a few days afterward a bunch of China- 
men hit the gravel while their escort's back was turned, 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 301 

it became necessary to provide another escort. "Hod" 
was chosen, and to date no kick has been registered. 

Some men may carry around more than a normal 
supply of brains, but few possess a heart larger than "Uncle " 
Horace's. Bailey's blood is red. It is of the consistency 
that buys a hungry man a plate of beans and a cup of 
coffee. If Horace gives you a cigar, it is a good one. 
If you want to make him a birthday present send him 
some good smoking material. 

He has been flustered but once in his life. On that 
occasion — one gray November afternoon in 1902 — Horace 
was occupying his seat way back in the corner of the house 
of representatives at Montpelier, when a breezy effort on 
the part of Emmett McFeeters of Enosburg stirred the 
atmosphere around Bailey. The Enosburg man at- 
tempted to be facetious at the expense of the W. C, T. U. 
of Vermont. Mr. Bailey began to display symptoms of 
anger, apoplexy and fight before he got his feet disentangled 
from his desk. When he got onto his feet what he said to 
McFeeters was a plenty, and it tended to curb the rest 
of the funny ones. Mr. Bailey's tribute to the woman- 
hood of Vermont on that November afternoon made him 
solid with the fair sex. 

It is said one bank in St. Johnsbury has all it can 
handle in the way of savings accounts, and that Horace 
Bailey as a trustee of the institution doesn't tend to drive 
business away. Horace is something of a politician. It 
takes a politician to land the job of U. S. marshal with a 
Vermont field of hungry ones chasing after you. The 
appointment of Horace was one that Senator Proctor never 
regretted. Though Mr. Bailey was not a member of the 
Kitchen Cabinet, he was trusted with the secrets of the 



302 Horace Ward Bailey 

inner shrine, and his ability to weigh and measure men 
compelled the house of Proctor to call upon him more than 
once for counsel. When it became known that Horace 
must submit to a surgical operation, a year or two ago, a 
bunch of political cannibals, not waiting for the obsequies, 
which they banked upon, began feeling of the wires to learn 
about the time that "Hod" would be due to class with 
the derelicts. It was then that Senator Proctor showed his 
followers that he had some red blood. There are missing 
links in the story, but the substance of the message conveyed 
to Mr. Bailey on his bed in the hospital, was that so long 
as Redfield Proctor's batting average could be maintained, 
the man didn't live in Vermont who could succeed his 
friend while the friend stayed alive. 

Horace has played in various positions on the political 
team in his home town, and his administration as a mem- 
ber of the Republican state committee is remembered, for 
Mr. Bailey contributed a momentum to the machine that 
was unexpected. 

Horace is a big man and to watch him navigate one 
would never suspect him to be a hustler. Men who have 
sat across the table from him and listened to his work of 
directing a political skirmish, are inclined to pass him up 
as a sort of steam roller. He can dictate a hundred letters 
all on the same subject, and the last will be as good as the 
first. His chirography resembles the trail of a duck. He 
uses either a feather duster or the burnt end of a match 
as a pen. He was never heard to speak ill of a man, but he 
never hesitates to give one his opinion of a man. It was 
this characteristic that brought Horace into the light in 
1902. While Mr. Bailey didn't get noisy as a member of 



Bibliography — Miscellaneous 303 

the ter-centennial outfit, he was one of the men who actually 
worked. 

As an arbitrator Mr. Bailey has a bunch of pretenders 
chased out on a limb. He can nail a crooked statement as 
quick as it is handed him, and it's useless to hand him a 
phony piece of gilt, for "Hod" has some sort of a system 
whereby he keeps in touch with men and matters in Ver- 
mont. 

Mr. Bailey's Letter to One Seeking Votes in a 
Voting Contest. 

In the spring of 1888 when Mr. Bailey was keeping a 
store at Newbury the New England Grocer started a voting 
contest among its subscribers, offering a gold watch to the 
most popular travelling man. Harry J. Goodwin of Boston 
sent out a number of letters to subscribers of this trade 
journal soliciting votes and he received in reply this letter 
from the Newbury grocer: 

"Your favor of the 6th inst. is duly considered. We 
conclude that such a supreme, unalloyed, brazen-faced, 
unadulterated, unmitigated display of cheek in its pure 
simplicity should be rewarded. We enclose our vote 
for "The most popular drummer," a man we never saw 
or heard of until we saw your name in the New England 
Grocer among the contestants. Indeed, you must be a 
very popular fellow. Kindly forward us your photo. 
We wish we were entitled to a thousand times ten thousand 
votes; they should be flung at your feet. If travelling 
wasn't a Httle off in Vermont, I would personally canvass 
this entire state for you. Not only do we wish you success 
in your wild scheme for a watch, but we wish you a glorious 
voyage through life. May your pathway be strewn with 



304 Horace Ward Bailey 

dandelion blossoms, etc. After life's fitful dream is 
passed, you will find, my dear sir, that your cheek will be 
an abundant passport into the unknown beyond. 
We subscribe ourselves. Sincerely Yours, 

BAILEY & CO., 
By Horace W. Bailey. 

Newbury, Vt., April 7, 1888. 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 305 



CHAPTER XIV, 
MR. BAILEY AS A LETTER WRITER. 

It was the farthest from Mr. Bailey's thoughts that 
any of his letters to his friends should ever be preserved 
in a book, but the correspondence which here follows is 
so characteristic of the man that it forms a most fitting 
part of this memorial. Though Mr. Bailey was a great 
letter writer, he preserved few copies of his letters. The 
selection of the letters which follow was made from among 
some of his many friends, who kindly furnished the letters 
for publication. It is apparent from these letters that Mr. 
Bailey had gifts of a high order in this direction. It is 
almost needless to say that there are many others of very 
great interest that are too personal for publication. It is 
true, too, that there are some that discuss persons and 
events so frankly that prudence dictates that they should 
not be published after so short a lapse of time. 

Letters to Senator Carroll S. Page. 

Mr. Bailey was at one time offered a position of large 
responsibility in one of the most important industries in 
Vermont. Senator Page thus explains the situation re- 
ferrred to in the following letter: 

In 1907 I was looking for a business manager. My 
oldest son had been stricken with tuberculosis, and the 
very first report made by a Boston specialist as to his case 
was that there was no possibility of his recovery. This 
son — Hull — had been my mainstay in business. His loss 
was absolutely inexpressible in any language that I can find. 

(20) 



306 Horace Ward Bailey 

I felt that the chief pillar upon which I had relied was gone, 
and in looking about for someone to take his place, I 
thought of Horace Bailey; and we had considerable corres- 
pondence in regard to his coming to Hyde Park. 

I had known Horace for many years and had great 
admiration for him. He came to Hyde Park and we dis- 
cussed the situation at length; but his final conclusion 
was that he didn't care to undertake the burden which I 
wanted to place upon him. He had no family to support, 
was living a very pleasant Ife — a life in which he could 
devote a great deal of tim.e to reading and literary work — 
and he realized that to sit in with me meant the assuming 
of heavy burdens; he did not give me a final decision when 
he was at Hyde Park, but wrote me after he had returned 
home. 

Newbury, Vt., January 20, 1897. 
Dear Governor: 

You were born January 10, 1843. I struck the earth 
nine years six days later. You need a younger man* 
My business education has been circumscribed by a half- 
bushel. At 45 years I am too fossilized to develop, and too 
hide-bound to expand into such a business help-meet as 
your surroundings demand. I am complimented by your 
letter. You over-estimate my ability. I am, indeed, 
much wedded to my town and county. Every man, it is 
said, has his price. If the party of the second part thought 
he could anywhere near meet the expectations of the party 
of the first part, he would say negotiate, (but he can't). 
My income from personal effort is not large, $1000 per 
annum covers it and more too. Should I get the New 
England Statistical Agency (which I probably shall not) 
another thousand would be added, total $2000, and that's 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 307 

at least ten or twelve hundred more than I am worth to 
anyone. Again Governor, I am not spry enough for your 
business. 308 lbs. of humanity is of necessity too slow for 
a man whose affairs are cosmopolitan and intercolonial. 
If you knew me better, you would know better. I thank 
you for the confidence manifest. While I am sure I could 
not fill the bill, I should not be averse to meeting you 
some day in St. Johnsbury and mutually exchange ideas 
confidentially. 

Very truly yours, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Newbury, Vt., January 28, 1897. 
Dear Governor : 

Your favor at hand. I am under renewed obligation. 
Fact is. Governor, you are piling up the obligations so that 
ere iong you will be entitled to a bill of sale or chattel 
mortgage. I am glad you were situated so that you could 
write Col. Clark in such an informal manner. I learned 
today that our friend Homer W. Vail is a candidate for 
the same place. Soon after some of Homer's exploiting 
in this vicinity dehorning cows, I introduced him to a 
Newbury audience at a farmers' meeting as ''the dehorned 
member of the Board of Agriculture. " Soon after he regis- 
tered a solemn vow that for that premeditated act of mine 
he would lay me low; perhaps this is the time he will do it, 
but he will have to scratch gravel to get a better endorse- 
ment. That is a fact. It is beginning to dawn on me 
that had your energies been directed in literary channels 
you would have attained renown, possibly not as wide- 
spread as the Calf-Skin King, but wide enough so that you 



308 Horace Ward Bailey 

could have reaped a snug harvest. My only desire now 
is that your letter to Col. Clark (which is a gem) will enter- 
tain him, as it has me. It is the happiest admixture of 
business, pleasure and clean-cut terse English that has come 
under my observation for a long time. Whether I get the 
N. E. Agency or not, that letter to Col. Clark will be kept 
where I can read it often. Its general tone is, to me, more 
inspiring and comforting than any number of David's 
Psalms. Sincerely thanking you, I am. 

Yours truly, 

BAILEY. 



Newbury, Vt., September 6, 1897. 
Dear Governor: 

Since about 1883 I have been connected with our 
public schools, most of the time as Supt., and have been 
regarded something of an expert on school mam's. Step- 
ping out of and into the higher order of house-wifery, I 
am a rudderless and compassless ship, nor sun, nor moon, 
nor stars to indicate a comfortable port. Twenty-two 
years ago the eighteenth of last April I made the first 
effort of my life looking to a double, or rather two-fold 
existence. I failed; numerous efforts in the same direction, 
covering intervening years, have also been failures. Last 
March, in an attempt to search out all the Baileys in my 
line, I met a head-on collision with a third cousin, living 
in Grinnell, Iowa, whom I had never seen, aged about 38; 
interesting coi"respondence ensued. She allowed that it 
would be pleasant to swap her name for mine. I was 
happy. She finally suggested we swap pictures. We 
swapped. Immediately a postal card came with this 
simple interrogation: "How much do you weigh?" In 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 



309 



great glee I sent back the following postal card message: 
"A little rising of three hundred." In due course of 
fast mails a postal came back all the way from Grinnell 
on which was the following tearful message: "I am no 
Mormon. There is enough of you for two or three women. 
Good bye." Yet, seriously, Governor, I am not so domes- 
tically discouraged but what I shall be on the lookout for 
just such a hired girl as you want; and if I find her I shall 
propose to her before she leaves for Hyde Park. 
Very truly yours, with kind regards, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Newbury, Vt., January 12, 1898. 
Dear Governor: 

There ought to be no question as to which of us should 
reach Paradise, for the narrative says there were "thieves 
on either side." However, it will be pleasanter to adopt 
as our trysting place the other scene, where Moses and 
Elias are on either side. But Governor, Vermont is Para- 
dise enough to answer all present demands in both our 
cases. Being in 2nd Cong. Dis. have not got grooming 
reduced to a common denominator, but if you insist on 
snuff taking, you'll find old Orange County can sneeze. 

Yours, 

BAILEY. 

Senator Page makes the following explanation in regard 
to the next letter: 

Unhke the business situation which was under con- 
sideration in 1897, Horace seemed to take to my service 
along political lines like a duck to water, and sometime 



310 Horace Ward Bailey 

in 1899 he came to Hyde Park and remained with me until 
the latter part of June. 

It may be proper to state that he was a most satis- 
factory helper in my political campaign of 1900, and as a 
correspondent I think he had few equals. We worked 
together in all political matters like brothers, and in all 
my political experience I have never had a more loyal and 
devoted friend than Horace W. Bailey. 

Newbury, Vt., January 13, 1899. 
Dear Governor: 

Much depends on where Gov. Smith strikes next. 
1st, — cream of corporation lawyers; 2nd, — cream of supreme 
court, and 3rd, — possibly cream of Fish Commissioners. 
One of two things is certain, that either Fish Commis- 
sioner or ex-Governors rank next highest above Supreme 
Court. Titcomb can't be spared. If I am appointed I 
shall accept. If the Governor takes note of the large and 
ever-increasing crop of Ex-Govs., I hope the wool will 
fly in Hyde Park. Notwithstanding I am a "Mountain 
Ruler" and have been several times vaccinated with Grout 
virus, I feel sure that I represent a considerable sprinkling 
of east siders who would wail not, and who believe if ap- 
pointed you would be a strong candidate in 1900, and 
would make both wool and fur fly. However, to be ser- 
ious, my impression is that in the pre-convention canvass 
you were leaning more towards Bennington than St. Al- 
bans, which with the Mt. Rule and other things leaves 
you side-tracked on present running schedule. If such 
is the case, the next best thing is something else, and if 
I too fall outside the senatorial breastworks I shall be free 
and untrammeled to examine flsh works anywhere in the 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 311 

1st. Cong. District, I shall only need a guide board fastened 
on my back pointing where. I note by a St. Johnsbury 
paper that the Citizens Bank has elected me to a trustee- 
ship, which will take me to St. Johnsbury Mondays. I 
might meet you there. Or if I don't answer a call to the 
U. S. senate my time will not be so valuable but what I 
might go to Hyde Park and take lessons in wool pulling, 
much to my benefit. Whatever happens I wish you a 
large measure of success. 

Yours very truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



-^^ r^ Newbury, Vt., September 14, 1912 

Dear Governor: ^y j r- , 

I received a second calendar from your office, also an 
engraving of yourself, which is a great and noble improve- 
ment over the cut on your calendar. In the acknowledg- 
ment of the first calendar, I was shy of wounding your 
feelings, so spoke of the man that the picture on the cal- 
endar stood for. This time I can speak of the picture as 
well. It's O. K. Abraham Lincoln, who occupies the 
most central place in my office, did not approve of the cut 
on the calendar, and has worn a serious, sad countenance, 
since I hung you up so conspicuously. Now I have put 
you on the door of my tall, old-fashioned clock, which has 
been in our family for 122 years. This means that you 
will strike on time; that you are always about ten minutes, 
ahead of Washington time, so that if you run for Congress 
you will get there ahead of the other fellow. It means 
that you always go forward and make things tick. 

Yours truly, 

BAILEY. 



312 Horace Ward Bailey 

Rutland, Vt., April 4, 1913. 
Dear Governor: 

:fe 4: 4: H^ :fe :^ :f; 

I am now holding on to my job as a matter of courtesy 
to a democratic administration. For me to resign at this 
time would be an act of great discourtesy to an inexperienced 
President, for whom I do not have an unkindly feeling, 
and whom I would not like to embarass. If it should be- 
come important to the ship of state for me to serve out my 
term, I shall pra}^ for strength to continue on until Jan- 
uary 1, 1916, although my house is now set in order. 
Yours very truly, 

HORACE. 



Rutland, Vt., August 25, 1913. 
Dear Governor: 

I won't put your letter in the junk heap, nor wait a 
year before I make reply. I read the letter to myself, 
then asked my nurse to read it to me, after which we took 
a vote on it, and got a unanimous decision that the letter 
was O. K. Thank you. 

The things I am called upon to pass through wrench 
on the soul and pull on the heart strings, but somehow I 
live more in the sunshine than in the shadow, and have 
not yet had a gloomy day. This may be what you call 
philosophy, but it seems to me more like stunted and 
dwarfed faculties, but so long as it keeps me in a fairly 
happy and fully contented frame of mind, let us not worry 
over the situation. I would be a poor hand to send out 
to reap gloom. Of course if my good Democratic friends 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 313 

should seize upon this opportunity to oust me, I should feel 
disturbed. I think I stand well with Vermont Democrats 
and have received warm assurances from both factions 
that I should hold out to January 1, 1916. If the fates 
so decree I shall rejoice. Mr. Chapman comes every day. 
I have passed upon all matters necessary for me to do, so 
that my grip on the office business is not much loosened. 
I am gaining every day. Tomorrow expect to get into a 
wheel chair. 

Yours, 

HORACE. 



Letters to Gov. Fletcher D. Proctor. 

Hon. F. D. Proctor, May 1, 1902. 

My dear Sir: 

To be fair and plain with you I am principally in- 
terested in my own campaign; it has kept me busy. At a 
very early date I began sawing for Bailey, and am sawing 
for him now, it's of much more importance to me whether 
I am nominated as Auditor than whether you are nomi- 
nated for Governor. I made a signed and sealed compact 
with myself from the start that I would treat all candidates 
decently, that I would cudgel none, the compact is un- 
broken. I hope my selfishness may be somewhat neut- 
ralized by my frankness. 

Yours very truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



314 Horace Ward Bailey 

Newbur}^, September 1, '02. 
Dear Mr. Proctor: 

A man would have the heart of a graven image who 
would not accept your reasons for not coming to Randolph. 
The final wind up at Randolph tonight by Dillingham and 
Plumley will I trust be beneficial. I sincerely thanlc you 
for keeping me so well in mind. The campaign is ended. 
It has been earnest, aggressive, bitter. Orange County 
never knew what campaigning was before, nor I either. 
For forty days and forty nights I have waged incessant 
warfare, have been in every town, some of them many times, 
turned every stone, pulled every string. I have run up 
against Grout-Dillingham campaign, church and school- 
house feuds, line fence and family quarrels galore. I am 
better acquainted with Orange County. We are queer! 
I have written, interviewed, scolded, prayed with, and 
sworn at until I am content. I have been kicked, cursed, 
lied to, praised, banqueted, and buffeted. I rather like 

The result will be a good vote for McC. and far too 
many Clement men in the legislature from Old Orange. 
This is not the "confession of an opium eater" but rather 
an incoherent statement of fact. You have been very 
kind and courteous to me since the campaign opened, for 
which accept thanks. At one time you were an interested 
participant in this struggle, therefore entitled to some 
of the experiences of a very modest county committee- 
man. 

With kind regards. 

Yours truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 315 

Rutland, Vt., April 9, 1906. 
Dear Fletcher: 

Just a line to say that my last was my best Washington 
trip. You told me to make my loafing headquarters in 
your father's committee room. I followed your instruc- 
tions and have no regrets. Fact is I had a grand time 
and was able to accomplish even more with my P. 0. 
business than I anticipated. I realize more than ever what 
a grand, strong, good man your father is. I have no doubt 
you found it out some time ago. I had lunch several times 
with your father, inspected the New Champlain with him, 
accepted his invitation to occupy a room in his suite, when 
completed, smoked excellent cigars from his store, and 
almost persuaded him to go rubbernecking with a party 
of us Sunday afternoon on an automobile. The fact is 
that when I left that burgh I didn't know whether I was 
a Bailey or a Proctor, and didn't care. I told him never 
to resign but sticker out. He said he would hold on until 
we said the word. Of course, I suppose it is generally 
understood that I want to see Gov. Page follow your 
father, but I ain't in any hurry about it. Your dad is 
worth a whole row of pretty good green Vermonters in 

Washington. 

******* 

Yours truly, 

BAILEY. 



Rutland, Vt., Sunday Eve. 
Dear Fletcher: 

Perhaps over the phone, you might have gotten the 
impression that I had been received into the Democratic 
fold. This letter from one of our leading Newbury Demo- 



316 Horace Ward Bailey 

crats will settle it. I have been adopted. ***** 
We shall win, and that too abundantly, or Molly 
Stark's a widder. 

Yours, 

HORACE. 



Rutland, Vt., September 3, 1907. 
Dear Governor: 

Had I known May 12 when I started in on my vaca- 
tion and period of quarantine that it was to cover so long 
a period of time I should most assuredly have resigned my 
place on the Lake Champlain Com. but I didn't know it. 
I regret exceedingly my inability to attend the proposed 
meetings in the near future, especially the meeting of the 
N. Y. Com. and the proposed trip on the lake. This is 
not a whine. In a few weeks I shall visit the haunts of 
men. Will then review the work of our commission, not 
with eye of critic, or heart of despot but rather as one ac- 
countable to Jehovah and Continental Congress. So 
when the F. & G. League and the Vt. and N. Y. com- 
mission's meet, go your full length. 

Yours truly, 

H. W. B. 



Rutland, Monday Eve. 
Dear Governor: 

Yours just at hand. I regret exceedingly that you 
are called away, more especially on account of your father's 
illness. I hope it is only temporary. After you read the 
enclosed clipping from this eve's News, you can readily 
see how I may be pardoned for feeling that it will be flying 
in the face of nature to proceed with Lake Champlain until 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 317 

you are with us. We shall wait. If you think it will have 

a cheering effect on your father tell him I am going out 

to W. again last of March with the schoolmarms, and will 

take him on one of those "seeing Washington automobile 

trips." 

Hastily, 

HORACE. 



Letters to President John M. Thomas. 

Rutland, Vt., January 29, 1912. 
Dear Dr. John: 

No matter how closely Congress may scrutinize the 
Champlain vouchers, they won't find where you and the 
Marshal swapped money for plug hats, will they? 

Yours Truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Rutland, Vt., April 10, 1912. 
Dear Doctor Thomas: 

Yours about the grand New York dinner at hand. 
I think as many as can of our Commission should attend. 

I have been housed up a week with rheumatism, or 
some other disorder, which has so swollen up my one foot 
that I can't wear a shoe. I feel more like going over into 
the wilds of Newbury and holding an inquest on a banquet 
of baked beans, biled dinners, old-fashioned doughnuts, 
boiled cider apple sauce, et cetera. Such will be more in 
touch with my tastes and habits, as well as stomach. 

Yours Truly, 

H. W. B. 



318 Horace Ward Bailey 

Rutland, Vt., February 11, 1914. 
Dear Doctor Thomas: 

I have your letter of the 10th inst. and am exceed- 
ingly grateful for the sentiment therein expressed. 

I have never aspired for a college degree; in fact, until 
the receipt of your letter of the 5th inst. the matter never 
entered my mind. 

I assure you that were a college degree to be bestowed, 
one from Middlebury would please me most; and that the 
act of bestowal should fall on such a man as you are, John 
Thomas, and friend, too, would be pleasure superlative. 

That the trustees of Middlebury College are a unit in 
their commendation of such an unworthy subject for 
Master of Arts degree is very gratifying, and the candi- 
date can hardly find words to express suitably his apprecia- 
tion of the honor implied. 

I shall ponder well the subject matter of your letter, 
and shall probably ponder long before having a settled con- 
viction that such an honor conferred on me by Middlebury 
College will be suitably or worthily bestowed. 

My lifelong conception of a college degree, whether 
earned or honorary, is that it should crown a higher educa- 
tion and encompass a broader field of literature than has 
fallen within my scope. 

Very Truly Yours, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



^ T^ . T ,. Rutland, Vt., June 12, 1913. 

Dear Doctor John: 

Replying to my inquiry as to date of conferring of 
degrees, etc., your reply of June 5 seemed to make it easy 
for me. 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 319 

It did not occur to me from your letter that I was to 
prepare a paper or anything else to be dignified as an ad- 
dress, and to be published as per Exhibit No. 1. [A 
newspaper request for copy of his address.] 

Nor had it ever occurred to me until Exhibit No. 2 
[circular of firm furnishing academic costume] that I 
should be required to be ornamented with cap and gown. 
All these items should have been disclosed to me in the 
first instance. 

I am unable mentally or physically to tackle this job; 
hence my non-appearance may be accounted for. I am 
not writing this in a spirit of censure, for I am appreciating 
the great honor you are trying to confer on me. You had 
a right to assume that I should know some of the rudi- 
ments of a course which I was almost persuaded to enter, 
but now that it has developed that I am so ignorant and 
unsophisticated, I am certain that I am totally unfit for 
the degree so courteously offered. I will go on probation 
another year. Unless I change my mind I shall never don 
a cap and gown. They are outward emblems of things 
I do not possess. 

As well might Mephistopheles present himself at the 

Lord's table. 

Yours truly, 

H. W. B. 



Rutland, Vt., Sunday. 
Dear Doctor John: 

Thanks for your letter; it hit the right spot. I do 
not have to have anyone write letters for me. Have had 
150 letters and have answered them all; short letters, of 
course. 



320 Horace Ward Bailey 

My amputation was August 14. On the 16th I sat 
up in bed and shaved, and on the 17th began to write a 
few brief letters to the mourners, and have written some 
every day since. 

After two weeks I got into a wheel chair and spent 
the time on the piazza, reading, smoking, visiting and 
meditating. I have had but little pain and the wound is 
now almost completely healed. I eat well, sleep well, 
smoke well, and am in a happy frame of mind. I have 
seen no clouds yet; I have been, and am now, resting in 
the sunshine, I am neatly trimmed, my proud and haughty 
spirit partially subdued, but snuffed out, nit. If you 
don't believe me call and see. I have two feet in the grave, 
but I shall walk again. 

My carriage will be neither supple or aesthetic, but 
stub about I must and will. 

I may have to lean a little more heavily on good 
friends, but am determined to go again. The race is not 
to the swift but to the enduring, a member of which class 

I am. 

Yours, 

H. W. B. 



Letter to J. A. Harrington. 

Mr. Bailey was invited to attend the reception given 
by the Vergennes Board of Trade to Judge Frank L. Fish 
when he was elevated to the office of Superior Judge in 
the spring of 1912. His letter declining the invitation here 
follows : 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 321 

Burlington, Vt., March 1, 1912. 
Hon. J. A. Harrington, 
Vergennes, Vt. 
My Dear Sir: 

I have yours of the 27th doing me the honor of an in- 
vitation to the Vergennes-Fish jubilee next Monday even- 
ing. That I should be one of a very few of the many of 
Fish friends, non-resident of Vergennes, to be invited to 
participate in the festivities planned by your Board of 
Trade is an exceptional personal compliment, which you 
are assured is very highly appreciated. 

On account of the somewhat strenuous official duties 
connected with the term of the U. S. Court now in session, 
I am reluctantly forced to decline the invitation and forego 
the pleasure that personal contact with your proceedings 
would most certainly give me. I have already extended 
dignified and hearty congratulations to Governor Mead on 
the success and appropriateness of his appointment. I 
have extended soulful and vociferous congratulations to 
Judge and Mrs. Fish and the school of smaller Fishes. 
And to your Board of Trade, and through you to all the 
citizens of Vergennes, I now extend all these congratulations 
raised to the superlative degree. 

In your distinguished citizen, Frank L. Fish, you have 
an honest, upright Judge in the embryo, and I shall be 
grievously disappointed if he does not develop in his new 
career into a Judge of whom we shall all be proud. My 
smallest wish is that this function may be as successful 
as Vergennes functions usually are; that your Board of 
Trade may be forever a blooming success, as it now is; 
and that Vergennes may continue to be the spunkiest 
municipality on the Globe, as it always has been; and its 

(21) 



322 Horace Ward Bailey 

citizens as patriotic and hospitable as I have always found 
them to be. My soul's sincere desire is that the pleasure 
I may have in meeting with you on some future occasion 
may be gratified in its fullest capacity. 

Yours Truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Letter to John G. Sargent. 

Rutland, Vt., February 17, 1912. 
Hon. John G. Sargent, 

Ludlow, Vt. 
Dear Gen. Sargent: 

I have read with profit and pleasure the account of 
"Reading's Big Day" in the Woodstock Standard. I 
wish to congratulate everybody who had a part in that, and 
especially the newspaper that gave such a splendid ac- 
count of the affair. After reading Mrs. Sargent's histo- 
rical paper I wish to congratulate her, for I think it a most 
excellent document, and wish now and here to suggest that 
whenever or wherever you are called upon for a little dis- 
pensation that you secure the services of your wife. And 
perhaps it will be well to let her make the public delivery. 
I don't think you can hold a candle to her, but this is not 
saying but what you can do fairly well yourself. 

Sometime ago we were speaking about my copy of 
"Saunders' Indian Wars," which is a reprint of the first 
edition, which is very rare. Even this edition is worth 
$8 or $10. It is said my edition does not contain Chapter 
27 of the original. 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 323 

You very kindly offered to have this copied for me, 

and I shall be very grateful for the addition of the missing 

chapter. 

Yours Very Truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Letter to H. C. Whitehill. 

The following correspondence with Editor Whitehill 
of the Waterbury Record is given a place in this book be- 
cause of numerous references to the sources of Vermont's 
political history. 

Waterbury, Vt., September 6, 1912. 
My Dear Mr. Bailey: 

I am preparing an article on the political parties in 
Vermont and their early history. In talking the matter 
over with my friend, and your friend, Horace Graham, 
he said, "Get after Horace Bailey's knowledge tank." 

Any information you can give me will be gratefully 
received. 

Cordially Yours, 

H. C. WHITEHILL. 



Rutland, Vt., September 8, 1912. 
Dear Harry: 

Your Uncle was very glad to receive a letter from you, 
but sorry that Horace Graham, who has forgotten more 
political history than I ever knew, should switch you off 
from his main line onto my siding. However, I may be 
able to offer a few helpful suggestions. 

In April, May and June, 1904, Capt. Frank Greene 
published a splendid political history of Vermont in the 



324 Horace Ward Bailey 

Daily Messenger, beginning with the Republican party 
in 1856. Later, in the same year, I pubhshed briefly in 
the Groton Times "How Vermont Has Voted," bringing 
it down to Roosevelt's election in 1904. These are all in 
my political Scrap Books. 

The September 1904 Vermonter contains a history 
of the Republican party by Col. Forbes. The early poli- 
tics of Vermont are more fully treated in Lafayette Wilbur's 
four volume history of Vermont than in any other history 
I know of. This, together with the eight volumes of 
"The Governor and Council" will give you a pretty good 
idea of early political conditions. 

I often refer to a book "A Dictionary of American 
Politics" comprising accounts of political parties, meas- 
ures and men, by Everett Brown and Albert Strauss, pub- 
lished by A. L. Burt, New York, 1888. You can prob- 
ably find all these books at the State Library. 

I hardly need to tell you that I shall be glad to aid you 
farther, if possible, in your most laudable undertaking to 
write up the political history of our beloved state. 

The inception of our Government, our early conven- 
tions, etc., are well set forth in "Slade's State Papers" 
and in Thompson's Gazetteer. 

The Anti-Masonic period of our political history is 
remarkably interesting. I wrote a series of letters to the 
St. Johnsbury Republican on that subject within a year 
or two. You may find something helpful in those letters. 
I spent much time in collecting the data. 

Very Truly Yours, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Mr. Baeley as a Letter Writer 325 

Letter to John W. Titcomb. 

In reply to a letter from Hon. John W. Titcomb, 
State Fish and Game Commissioner, in regard to the sea- 
son of pickerel spawning Mr. Bailey wrote as follows: 

Rutland, Vt., October 22, 1912. 
John W. Titcomb, 

Lyndonville, Vt. 

Dear John: 

I have your esteemed favor of October 18th and have 
noted its contents. I regret exceedingly that I am unable 
to shed much light on the pickerel spawning season, nor 
can I now see my way clear to suggest to you whether the 
closed season should be April or May. If in doubt, put up 
the bars against both months. 

I have very pleasant recollections of spearing pickerel 
on the meadows in the early days, when mother would 
fry them in pork fat, and father would serve them at the 
table along with a substantial mug of cider. I should be 
pleased if you would incorporate this kind of legislation 
into our statutes, suggesting that pickerel be served the 
way I have named. 

Perhaps you recollect that nearly all my trips about 
Lake Champlain in your company were under conditions 
exceedingly favorable for seeing sea serpents, water snakes 
and eels. If you want to tell the Lake Champlain Associa- 
tion something you might relate your experience in in- 
troducing new fish commissioners to the Swanton Gun 
Club. 

Yours Truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



326 Horace Ward Bailey 

Letter to Guy W. Bailey. 

The following letter from Mr. Bailey was received 
by Hon. Guy W. Bailey, Secretary of State, highly com- 
mending the Publicity Department for the work they had 
done. 

Rutland, Vt., July 22, 1913. 
Dear Mr. Bailey: 

I have received copies of "Vermont the Land of Green 
Mountains" and "Where to Stop When in Vermont," 
issued by you as the head of the Vermont Publicity Bureau. 

I wish to congratulate you on the quality of your 
work, and the legislature on the wisdom of creating and 
sustaining this bureau. 

It seems to me that in maintaining this bureau our 
state will get full value received. 

These publications are of the high order that will at- 
tract attention and draw to our incomparable state many 
who heretofore have been unaware of our scenic beauty, 
and the desirability of our location and equipment for a 
vacation resort. 

These publications together with the highway map 
issued by the Highway Department, place Vermont at 
the very door of strangers as plain as A. B. C. 

Permit me also to congratulate you especially on hav- 
ing discovered Vermont's second Zadock Thompson, in 
the person of Walter H. Crockett, to edit "Vermont the 
Land of the Green Mountains." 

Mr. Crockett has brought to j^our aid the knowledge 
and wisdom of Vermont's foremost historian, a scholar 
ripe in historic lore, as well as abreast with the present 
and alive to the future. 

The good judgment of Supt. Stone in securing 4,000 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 327 

copies of this work for schools is in evidence. The allot- 
ment for schools should be quadrupled. 

This work is a comprehensive, yet condensed and 
concise gazetteer of Vermont towns, containing historical, 
biographical and geographical data gathered from many 
sources. 

I have carefully read this book from cover to cover 
and am grandly impressed with its subject matter aad 
charmed by its beautiful illustrations. 

Mr. Secretary, this book should be in every Vermont 
library, in every school room and in every home. 

An edition should be substantially bound and put 
aside for it will long remain the crown-sheaf of Vermont's 
Publicity Bureau, and the historical masterpiece of Editor 
Crockett. 



Letter to Samuel Alden Tucker and Wife. 

The following congratulatory letter was written to 
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Alden Tucker of Boltonville, Vt., 
on the occasion of their silver wedding March 22, 1913: 

Dear Sam and Lois Ann: 

I am wondering just how it feels to be married twenty- 
five years. Although I have been waiting for the experi- 
ence it has not arrived. I shall wait a few more years 
and see if it won't come. 

If I were near enough to you on this momentous and 
happy occasion to lay on hands, to see just how you feel, 
then I should know. In the absence of these very glorious 
opportunities I shall have to keep guessing, and my guess 
is that twenty-five years of married life must be an angelic 
sensation. 



328 Horace Ward Baiuby 

You have worked in the harness pretty well these 
twenty-five years; sometimes one of you, and sometimes 
the other has been ahead, but the average has been 0. K. 

Please accept my hearty congratulations and sincere 
wish that many more of these events may be strewn along 
your pathway. 

May the Tucker household thrive, big and little. 
There are no very little Tuckers now, but should there be, 
may they thrive too. 

Yours for more of it, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Letter to Thomas C. Cheney. 

In reply to a most cordial letter from Hon. Thomas 
C. Cheney of Morrisville on the occasion of Mr. Bailey's 
second hospital experience, Mr. Bailey wrote the following 
in pencil: 

"Thanks Thomas! Such letters are a bracer. While 
I am trimmed I am not suppressed and firmly believe I 
shall be with you again. Am doing fine. 

Yours, 
H. W. B. 

Letter to W. N. Gilfillan. 

The following private letter was written from the 
Rutland Hospital in the summer of 1913 to W. N. Gil- 
fillan of South Ryegate, one of the publication committee 
of the Ryegate Town History, a book in which Mr. Bailey 
was deeply interested: 

Hearty Congratulations. Your history committee 
must belong to the class mentioned as having come up 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 329 

through great tribulations. Everything, it is said, comes 
to those who wait. My August 1, 1907, letter was written 
from the Hospital, after having one leg cut off. My 
August 27, 1913, letter is written from the same place, 
after having the other leg cut off, but I do not blame it 
all on the Ryegate History. I think the $4 brand will 
do very well, hence enclose check. Am getting along very 
well now. Am very well trimmed now and just a little 
subdued, but squelched or snuffed out, not by a long ways. 
Shall enjoy the History during my convalescence. 



Letter to Lynn M. Hays. 

Newbury, Monday a. m. 
Dear Lynn: 

Yours at hand and I note all you say about the progress 
of our measure.* You are the one soldier in our company 
constantly in battle affray, and on skirmish line, and picket 
duty, and so you will be to the end. If this turns out to be 
a success, you shall be praised and lauded to the skies — 
if it's a failure you shall be cursed and damned into perdi- 
tion. I shall be in Montpelier tomorrow, not to bow down 
and be crowned a new Tercentenary Com'r., for I have 
concluded to forego that honor, but rather to attend the 
regular meeting of the Vermont Historical society. I 
shall expect to see you. 

Yours truly, 
H. W. B. 

* Referring to the bill then pending before the Vermont Legisla- 
ture, appropriating $25,000 for the Champlain Tercentenary celebra- 
tion. 



330 Horace Ward Bailey 

Letter to W. H. Crockett. 

This letter refers to the new history of Vermont, 
"Vermont — the Green Mountain State," now being 
written by Mr. Crockett. Mr. Bailey was chairman of 
the advisory board. 

Rutland, Vt., November 10, 1913. 
Dear Walter: 

H. Greeley said the way to resume is to resume. The 
way to stop is to stop. 

You will remember that I resigned from that Cham- 
plain sub-committee because my doctor said "if you don't 
you are a dead man." Six years ago a council of doctors 
said to me "Bailey, if you don't quit excessive head work 
the other leg will follow." They were true prophets. 
Because I began little by little I got right back into the old 
rut, and almost before I knew it, off went the other leg. 
After they cut off this leg, I asked them what the next 
stage of the disease would be; they said if I behaved myself 
and let up entirely on head work, I would die of old age, so 
far as my disease was concerned. But I replied: "If 
I go on as before, what is the next step?" They said "Off 
goes a hand or arm, paralysis of brain or senile debility." 
Now, Walter, do you blame me for stopping, for being 
scared? 

Dr. Gale, when he comes in my room and finds me 
writing, with books, papers and magazines laid about, 
curses me and threatens to throw the whole thing out of the 
window, and much more. I had about as soon die, any- 
way, as to be cut off from my historical work and research, 
but I must stop and, Walter, it comes hard to stop on you, 
as you are entering this great and most important work 
of your life and of the state. A curious condition prevails 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 331 

in my case; physically I am in perfect condition, my wound 
healed perfectly in two weeks; I have had no aches nor 
pains. I eat well, and if I don't over-eat or over-write, 
sleep well. This will be an indication to you that my 
trouble is wholly of the brain or nerves. 

I think I have already called your attention to the 
Appendix in Thompson's History of Montpeher, which 
I consider by far the best thing on Indian occupation in 
Vermont. I consider Prof. G. H. Perkins the best archaeo- 
logist in Vermont, if not in the United States, and I fully 
agree with him on Indian occupancy. He does not believe 
any tribe ever dwelt here for any length of time. He 
would make a splendid reviewer of your Indian chapter. 

I think I have suggested to you the great help of having 
foot-notes referring to your authority; such notes have 
been of the greatest help to me. I am sending you a good 
sketch of the Ely war (you can keep it). Your history 
should contain an account of the occasions when the mili- 
tary has been called out in times of peace. I think Josiah 
Grout got his title of Major at the time of the Fenian 
Raid, and he might be able to give you some points as to 
the operation of the forces at that time along the Cana- 
dian border. 

I want to be helpful; I want to be so more than you 
can think. I am willing to hew close to the danger line. 

Yours truly, 

H. W. B. 



332 Horace Ward Bailey 

Letters to Judge Frank L. Fish. 

Newbury, Vt., December 12, 1900. 
Dear Bro. Fish: 

You have probably observed that the Legislature 
came the "Presto Change" on our fish and game law and 
the Governor came the ''Presto Change" on me, and has 
appointed E. A. Davis commissioner for four years and 
Superintendent of the Hatchery, and Mr. Titcomb plain 
Commissioner for two years. This was kind in the Gover- 
nor for it leaves me unhampered, as to time with the school- 
marms. Also after six years of so much prosperity I might 
unless checked, grow opulent and purse proud. I hold a 
commission signed by Edward Curtis Smith with the great 
seal of the State which does not expire until December 1, 
1902. Please examine No. 128 of the Acts of the recent 
great combination, and see if in your opinion it abrogates 
the act under which I was appointed, thereby nullifying my 
commission. I make no contentions for the commissioner- 
ship, for my bleeding scalp sways in Ludlow breezes dang- 
ling from the belt of a tender and merciful Chief Executive, 
and I smile through my tears. Yet it does seem as though 
No. 128 does not in a just interpretation of the law wipe 
out the Smith parchment expiring in 1902. 

As cheerfully yours as circumstances permit, 

EX-COMMISSIONER BAILEY. 



June 19, 1909. 
Dear Frank: 

Yours at hand and contents noted. Of course I want 
to attend the banquet if I am able for not to do so would 
make me appear odd. It's wholly a case of what I may 



Mr, Bailey as a Letter Writer 333 

be able to do, which depends wholly on the strenuousness 
of the day, — mercury and humidity, etc., etc. It is the 
starting in of a strenuous week. I have tried to impress 
on you by hints that I am a darned weak clumsy sister. 

Now then if I do attend the banquet, and I hope I 
may, I have no personal ambition to be a speaker, but 
having been on both commissions might again appear 
odd and obstinate in refusing a call for a small item in the 
program. Therefore if you should see fit to put me at the 
end of the list with a toast, "The Commission and the 
Celebration" or something similar, I will use five minutes 
of Vergennes' time. Now can you get this through your 
thick head? 

Yours truly, 

H. W. B. 

P. S. It will be pleasant indeed if the Judge can take 
us in Sunday night, if he can't I suppose we can plan to go 
down early Monday morn. 



August 24, 1910. 
DearF. L.: 

My last settlement with you as L. C. Commr. was in 
July, 1909, when you paid me $133.95. 

I am enclosing bill amounting to S22.29. I am not 
certain whether our Com. will be called together again or 
not, but assume not. 

I have received a comp. ticket to Midd. Fair, admitting 
self, lady and team. The only name among all the officials 
with which I am familiar, real familiar, is your own; if you 
are the responsible party please accept thanks, if you are 
not responsible, can you tell me who is, that I may return 



334 Horace Ward Bailey 

thanks. Although I have had many compHmentary 
tickets in years past, but have not attended a Fair in 25 
years; if you will designate the best day, I will go up, 
and pay for a team if you will show me around. In selecting 
day, please keep in mind that I am not carried away with 
HOSS trots or ball games, but that I love sheep, ginger- 
bread, and fair sex. I love town teams of oxen, mares with 
foal, mothers with babies whose faces are decorated with 
red candy. I like vegetables, made into a biled-dish or red 
hash. I like to see a parcel of country bucks with their 
lovey dovies entrain and ribbons, etc. I like a few thou- 
sand Addison Co. patriots en-deshabille, en-famille, en- 
masse, en-passant, etc., provided you are sworn to intro- 
duce them all. Yours, 

H. W. B. 



January 22, 1912. 
Dear Frank: 

If you are going spearing for the vacant judgeship, 
I might carry a torch, I might guard the basket containing 
the commissary supplies. I can offer prayer, I can do 
your profane swearing and when the escapade is ended I 
can adorn the mourners' bench, close up to the bereaved 
family circle. I am also a fairly good condoler. 

Yours, 

H. W. B. 



Rutland, Vt., February 12, 1912. 
Dear Judge: 

Some time ago I sent you an article "A Pair of Peace- 
ful Patriots," one being Rowland E. Robinson, and asked 
your opinion of my estimate of the man. I went Fishing 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 335 

for a helpful criticism of Robinson because you knew him 
well, but the Fish has not bitten yet. Some day I may 
incorporate some of my stuff into a book and "A Pair of 
Peaceful Patriots" would be one item of the stuff. My 
measurement of Robinson is taken almost wholly from his 
books and I wanted you to say whether from your view- 
point it was well taken. Also whether you think that my 
comparisons between Thompson and Robinson were well 
drawn. 

At the same time I sent Mrs. Robinson a copy of the 
P. P. P. and her reply is so pleasing, and so much like her- 
self, that I am enclosing it for your perusal. 

Yours, 

H. W. B. 

Dear Judge: August 31, 1912. 

Thanks for your letter, glad you are alive. 

If agreeable to the family, near relatives and mourners, 
Coquette (the horse) and others, I shall be made happy by 
invitation, for a brief space, to be a guest at the Fish House 
with prospective Mt. Philo Trip, at about the time of gorg- 
eous foliage. 

I go to Newbury to-day, to be there Tuesday to record 
my wisdom at the polls. 

Yours, 

H. W. B. 



Dear Judge: February 11, 1913. 

Yours of the 8th instant at hand and I note with 
pleasure what you say about speaking to the Daughters at 
the Vendome, and the Sons at Yale on, "Some Vermont 
Poets." 



336 Horace Ward Bailey 

I suppose you plan to class Phelps right in with Saxe, 
Julia C. R. Dorr, Col. C. W. Scarff, Eva J. Stickney, Wendell 
P. Stafford, and Charles G. Eastman and other notable 
Vermont song writers. 

The rhyme and rhythm and sentiment in the Phelps 
"Essex Junction" poem are truly marvelous. Please 
send me a copy of a Boston paper giving an account of 
your escapade, take your Bulletin Board along with you, 
remembering that you met your Waterloo at a certain 
State convention. 

Yours truly, 

H. W. B. 

P. S. In the name of God and Humanity, and of the 
Commonwealth, for the sake of your family, your reputa- 
tion, don't, when you appear in Boston and at Yale, adorn 
yourself with that short double-breasted coat, it is undigni- 
fied, unaesthetic, and probably unsanitary. 

H. W. B. 

P. S. All notorious Vermont Poets are either dead or 
have moved away, may your eulogy of them and quotation 
from them, the wag of your gifted tongue about them, 
gratify them in their several realms. Nature made an 
Apollo of you, don't let some bush-whacking clothier defeat 
the wise purpose of the Almighty, that you may be saved 
a sordid Dollar and Fifty Cents. 

H. W. B. 



Rutland, Vt., February 13, 1913. 
Dear Judge: 

I have your letter written at Bennington January 
16th; that was my birthday. Excepting that there was 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 337 

rather too much flattery I would retain the letter as a birth- 
day souvenir. 

I have now re-read your letter and am stuck as be- 
tween its being flattery and irony. You are not ordinarily 
a flattering kind of a man, but can shoot irony like an 
expert if occasion requires. 

I will not hang on either horn of the dilemna, but 
suspend midway; while thus suspended I will consider your 
suggestion of writing a book in order to discharge an ob- 
ligation due my friends and fellow citizens. 

The more I consider the matter, the more I am con- 
vinced that I shall not write such a book. 

With a high sense of appreciation for what a liberal 
construction of your letter implies, 

I am. Yours Truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



Dear Judge: 

If I should ever put my fables into book form I should 
want to include "A Pair of Peaceful Patriots." You are 
well acquainted with both. If either are misrepresented, 
you will please call my attention to it. Wish you a "Happy 
New Year" and as many more as the public can stand. 

H. W. B. 



Dear Judge: June 6, 1913. 

Your letter came a few days ago, the "Law Review" 
came to-day, for both please accept my thanks. 

I laid aside playthings and have read "Respect for 
the Law" and the same has added to my store of useful 
knowledge. I had not thought that we Americans were 
(22) 



338 Horace Ward Bailey 

so bad. My only adverse criticism is that you did not 
more specifically lay down the remedy. To say that the 
bad condition is due to lack of respect for law is an axiom, 
to which may be added a necessary repair of the law. But 
the remedy is not suggested by saying that the cure will 
obtain by a more profound respect for the law, for that 
too is an axiom, and you travel in a circle. If you in- 
tended the closing quotation from President Wilson to 
be accepted as the remedy, that also fails; it is too wholly 
axiomatic. For its general information, although deplor- 
able, your article is splendid. 

But on general principles it is not a good plan to dis- 
play a sick condition of the body politic unless one has a 
remedy at hand. 

Yours truly, 

HORACE W. BAILEY. 



June 14, 1913. 
Dear Judge: 

I called at Vergennes June 10-1 1th and I spent no 
inconsiderable portion of one afternoon in your library. 
It is a great institution, — so is your librarian. It is magni- 
ficent, so is she. I was almost fortunate in going there 
alone, because I was then untrammeled. 

I visited all parts and then we talked about books 
in general, then about Vermont books in particular. 

I hope you do not fetter that librarian in the selection 
of books, etc. She has forgotten more about books than 
your combined trustees know or have known. I should 
like to keep house in that library. The next afternoon I 
attended lunch and commencement exercises at the In- 



Mr. Bailey as a Letter Writer 339 

dustrial School, and never experienced a better lunch or 
exercises. Mayor, bless his soul, gave me an auto, ride, 
and John Donnelly did the balance, so in the aggregate 
it was a gala season. Please send me a copy of current 
issue of your paper. 

Yours, 

H. W. B. 



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